Cardcaptor Rad
by The Sunflower Seed
Summary: G1/CCS. While unpacking his belongings, Rad finds the Clow book and accidently releases all the cards! Now he must collect them all before they cause any extensive damage to his hometown, while having to keep it a secret. Rad/Bluestreak and Rad/Frenzy. Shade Penn created the first 26 chapters I'm writing the rest. Don't own Transformers or Cardcaptor Sakura
1. Kero

Rad smiled as he unpacked another box. His parents had him move in with his aunt while they were on another expedition, this one was supposed to take longer, but that was okay because his aunt was cool and he had friends; human and alien alike.

He stopped when he felt a strange sensation go through him. The feeling fluttered in him warmly, like a gentle pull. So abandoning the next box for the moment, he followed the feeling to his new dresse. He opened one of the drawers and blinked.

Inside was a book.

He took it out and examined it. It was crimson color and on the front was a lion-like beast head with wings. The borders were gold, or maybe bronze and a sun and crescent moon symbol was used on each corner. The book was kept shut with a leather strap with a buckle.

Rad ran a finger along the cover.

"How did this get here?"

Rad dropped the book in surprise when the buckle came undone. Rad tentatively got on his knees and opened the book, but was surprised when he saw that there were no words, but a card on top with the same symbols as the book borders.

Rad picked up the top card to see another and turned it over. On the front was what looked like a moth or a fairy? The borders were gold and was completely colorless except for the unfurled wing design on the woman's forehead, which was green.

Rad though she looked like she was sleeping because her eyes were closed. He noticed some scroll-like design at the bottom and some writing. He held it up to see it better.

"Windy?"

Suddenly it glowed light blue and a swirl of wind erupted around him. The other cards got swept up in the glowing blue. They all went through the walls. Rad felt the card he'd been holding slip away, but to his surprise, it came back to him.

"What just happened?" he asked the card like it would answer him.

A glow from the book caught his attention and he saw a teddy bear-like creature rising from the book cover. It looked like a plush doll and rather comical with its big head and ears. It opened its tiny eyes.

"Hey-hey-hoo!"

Rad yelled and fell backwards in surprise.

"Wha-what are you? Some kind of plushy?"

The creature got a tick mark.

"I'm the Beast of the Seal! Kerberos."

"Beast of the Seal? What's that?" Rad asked scratching his head.

"I guard the Clow Cards and-" Kero looked at the book only to see that it was empty, and let out a sound that was somewhere between a gasp and a scream.

"Where'd all the cards go?!"

Rad looked at the tiny thing in pity. Wait, cards? He looked at the only one in his hand, and then at Kerberos.

"Er, this card?"

Kereberos turned around and his eyes brightened, "Yes!" He said taking the card, "So where are the other cards?"

"Well you see," Rad began nervously, "I called out the name on that card, then there was a gust of wind, and…"

"Mhmmm, mhmm." Kero nodded, rolling his head.

"…then they all flew away." Rad finished.

"Oh." They both laughed before Kero looked at Rad in complete disbelief and then got in his face, tiny fangs bared.

"WHAT?!"

Rad backed up defensively, "sorry, I didn't know!"

Kero calmed down but still looked panicked.

"This is bad, you've unleashed a powerful force onto the very plane of existence!"

Rad hung his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." He repeated.

"Well, since you let them out, you gotta catch them!" Kerberos yelled.

"What?" Rad yelled.

There was a familiar feminine voice on the other side of Rad's closed door.

"Rad, is something wrong?"

"Uh no, Aunt Raven." Rad assured. "Just talking to friends on the phone."

"Oh, okay." The footsteps faded to downstairs.

"Whos was that?" Kerberos questioned.

"My aunt, I'm living with her because my parents are on an expedition and won't be back for awhile." Rad answered.

"It must be pretty lonely." Kero said in a subdued tone.

Rad smiled slightly, but truly. "No. I have friends." He tilted his head. "So any short form of your name?"

Kerberos face-faulted. "You can call me Kero."

Shade Penn


	2. Sealing Wand

Rad's face twisted in confusion when he realized something.

"Er, how am I going to catch these cards, exactly?"

Kero merely smiled. "With the Sealing wand. Now I'm going to initiate the contract, okay?" Rad nodded.

"Key of the Seal," Everything except for the book, Rad, and Kero disappeared as a glowing orb came from inside the book. Inside the orb was a key. The handle made of bronze, kind of shaped like a beak, and so was the blade. The flat sides of the handle were large red gems with a small pair of wings attached. The beak of the handle was red. "There is someone wishing for a contract with you. A boy, his name is Rad. Oh key, grant him the power. Release!"

Rad shielded his eyes from the light, but managed to see the key stretch and grow through the glaring light. He heard Kero shouting for him to make a grab for it, so he made his way through the light and reached for the key turned staff. Suddenly everything returned to normal and the wind stilled.

Rad saw that the staff looked exactly like the key except for the orange pole, and the red gem filled pocket at the end. His eyes glimmered.

"This is awesome! Orange is my favorite color!"

Kero rolled his eyes. "Reaally? I wouldn't have guessed." He said sarcastically while looking at Rad's orange bedspread.

Rad huffed and willed the staff to return to key form.

"So this key is going to help me seal away those cards?"

"Pretty much." Kero glided over to the desk where Windy was and picked it up. He handed it over to Rad. "Write your name on the card to show ownership, if you don't you'll have to catch them again."

"Got it." Rad grabbed a pen and wrote his name on the card. "So lets get hunting!"

Kero chuckled, "Your enthusiasm is appreciated, but you can't just go and look. They have to reveal themselves."

"What do I do until then?" Rad asked.

"You would just do what you normally do." Kero said.

Rad nodded. "Well, I was just finishing unpacking. Then I was gonna get a piece of chocolate cake that my aunt made."

"Cake?" Kero asked excitedly, "Chocolate cake?"

Rad nodded, "You like chocolate?"

"Yeah, I have a giant sweettooth, swing me a piece if you can." Kero said hopefully.

Rad smiled and stood, "Sure." He said heading for the door. He descended downstairs and saw his aunt cooking dinenr. He spotted the cake sitting on the counter and grabbed three plates; two for dinner and one for him and Kero.

"I'm just going to take some cake up to my room, is that alright?"

The blonde woman looked up from the boiling water, "Don't spoil your appetite, we're having spaghetti."

Rad smiled as he got a big piece and discretely took two forks and headed back upstairs. He went into his room only to find it empty.

"Kero?"

There was a rustling from a drawer and looked in to find that Kero had made a makeshift room of his own. Kero placed his tubby hands on his hips, "Well, what do you think?"

Rad nodded approvingly.

"It looks like my room, sort of." He placed a dish on the tabletop.

"Got the cake."

Kero zoomed up to the top and took the fork he was offered. He put a big piece in his mouth.

"This is awesome!"

Rad took a bit as well and nodded, "Afterall the excitement from finding out I have magic and becoming a Cardcaptor, it's nice to just to relax."

Kero nodded, still stuffing his face.

"I think we're going to get along just great, Rad."


	3. Fly Away

Rad was walking down the sidewalk after school to meet up with Spike and Carly when he felt the fell of feathers brushing against him in puffs of wind. He heard a strangled sound coming from his pack so he walked over to an alley way. He opened his pack and Kero came flying out.

"Kero what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how the Cardcaptor spends his day, but no time for that. There's a Clow Card nearby." Kero said.

"Where?" Rad asked. Not a second later, a large shadow came across them. Rad looked up and gaped. Flying overhead was a large sky blue avian creature. He saw passerbys not even looking up.

"How are people not noticing this/"

"Fly is magically cloaked. You have to catch it!" Kero yelled.

"How am I supposed to seal that?" Rad asked in disbelief.

"With the Key." Kero replied.

"Oh right." Rad took the key off his neck and held it out in front of him. For some reason, the words were implanted in his head. "The Key that holds the power of the dark. Show your true powers before me. I, Rad, command you under our contract. Release!" The Key swirled and grew, stopping when Rad grabbed it.

"After Fly!" Kero yelled.

Rad nodded and grabbed Kero as well as ran after Fly. He managed to keep up with Fly because it wasn't going that fast, but now he faced another problem.

"How do I work the cards?"

"Tell the card what you want it to do, then call out its name." Kero explained.

Rad pulled Windy out of his pocket. "Pull Fly down, Windy!" he shouted, tossing the card up in front of him and brought the staff down.

The wind spirit burst forth from the card and flew up to Fly before wrapping herself around Fly's wings and pulling it down.

"Seal the card1" Kero yelled once Fly was close enough.

Rad raised his staff. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" he brought down the staff and it stopped mid-swing, almost like it hit a wall. A glowing shell card appeared as chime bells sounded and Fly was sucked in. Once sealed, Fly floated into Rad's hand.

"I did it." Rad said awed. He snapped out of it when he noticed he was late meeting up with Spike and Carly. "Aw man, I was suppose to meet my friends, now how am I going to get there in time?"

Kero had a secret smile.

"Use Fly." He said simply.

Rad sweat dropped before shouting, "Fly!" and hitting the card. A pair of white wings grew from the smaller pair on the staff head. He got on and did a hop. Instantly the wings started flapping and soon he was soaring in the air, "This is awesome!"

Both he and Kero flew through the air until Rad spotted his two friends and Bumblebee. They both landed near them but out of the way so they wouldn't get spotted. The staff lost its wings as it shrunk down to key form.

"Okay Kero, I'm going to need you to be quiet, got it?" he asked the guardian.

Kero nodded. "Just don't close your backpack all the way." He said before flying into the backpack.

Rad left his hiding place before going to meet his friends. "Hey Spike, Carly." He nodded at the bug. "Bumblebee."

"What took you so long?" Spike asked.

"Oh." Rad scratched his head sheepishly. "I kind of took a detour and got lost."

"You got lost?" Bumblebee asked in disbelief.

Rad shrugged coolly. "Happens," he adjusted his backpack carefully before they got into the Volkswagen. "Anyways, how were your classes?" he asked casually. "Anything interesting happen?"

"Well, the pastries we made in Home-Ec had to be thrown out and remade because all of them had been too sweet." Carly said.

Rad felt his suspicion rise. " _All_ of them? Really?" Carly nodded.

One prominent thought stood out in Rad's mind. _'Could it be a Clow Card?'_ he shrugged it off for now as Bumblebee drove them to the Autobot base.


	4. Sweet Talk

"So anything interesting happen?" Rad asked the same question he asked earlier. He and his friends were standing in front of Teletran-1.

"Actually, there 'were' some bizarre energy signatures that showed up on our monitors yesterday, and just before you arrived." Jazz said. Rad tried not to flinch.

"Could it be the Decepticons?" Carly asked.

Optimus shook his head. "No, the signals have been in different areas and were only active for a short time before disappearing. So far none of the signals have reappeared."

' _Well, this could be a problem._ ' Rad thought grimacing.

"Rad are you okay?" Red Alert asked noticing Rad's grimace.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Rad assured.

Red Alert didn't look like he believed him, but didn't ask. "If you're sure…"

Rad unconsciously fiddled with his key. "Yeah I'm sure."

* * *

Rad snagged another piece of cake from the counter and went upstairs to his room. He opened his bag when he got there. Kero flew out.

"You okay? You were in there for a long time."

Kero waved it off. "I'm fine, though why didn't you tell me your friends were giant robots?"

"Why can't I tell them about magic?" Rad retorted giving Kero a fork.

"Because," Kero started while in between bites, "Magic is very secretive and even the most noble-hearted can try and abuse its powers." He explained.

Rad sighed, then an idea came to him. "Bluestreak!"

"What or who is Bluestreak?" Kero asked.

"He's my…friend." Rad blushed. "We can trust him, he wouldn't tell anyone."

Kero still looked unsure. "Are you sure he can be trusted?" Rad nodded and Kero sighed.

"Alright, where is he now?"

"He should be stopping by in a few minutes, so we can go meet him outside." Rad said.

"Let's go get this over with then." Kero sighed in an overly dramatic resigned way.

Rad rolled his eyes at the tone. "Come on." He grabbed Kero and headed downstairs. It didn't take long for Bluestreak to show up and Rad got into the car.

"Hey Blue."

"Hello Rad," Bluestreak greeted, "What shall we do today?"

Rad smiled.

"Actually, I've got something to show you." He said lifting out his key.

"Yes it is a very nice key, is that what you wanted to show me?" Bluestreak asked confused.

Rad laughed and Kero finally moved, "No, it was not."

"A talking teddy bear?" Bluestreak asked amazed. "That is something."

Kero got a tick mark as Rad laughed louder.

"I'm Kero, Beast of the Seal, not a teddy bear!" He slapped the steering wheel.

Rad calmed down enough to speak coherently.

"I wanted to show you this actually." He took the key off the string. "The key which hides the power of the dark, show your true powers before me, I, Rad, command you under our contract! Release!" A glow enveloped the key and it elongated into its staff form.

"So what do you think?" It was silent for a very long time, and Rad was worrying he crashed Blue, when the gunner's voice came excitedly from the speakers, "What was that?"

"This is my Sealing Wand, and that was magic." Rad said, "I'm using it to capture all the Clow Cards that I accidently released." He finished sheepishly.

Kero spoke next, "I'll explain what the Clow Cards are exactly after we deal with this one."

"So it is a Clow Card that ruined the pastries?" Rad asked.

Kero nodded grimly, "I highly doubt that if it was a prank that all of the pastries would have been sweetened too much," he hung his head, "all those poor pastries, didn't even stand a chance."

Rad sweatdropped.

"What's with him?" Bluestreak asked.

"He really likes sweets." Rad said amusedly. Kero had fire in his eyes, "I will avenge you pastries!"

Rad sweat dropped again.

* * *

Rad snuck into the Home-Ec holding his transformed key on the lunch break with Kero. He hid behind a counter at the front, making sure to have closed any and all possible exits and wait. He doesn't have to wait long before the Card's presence made itself known. Rad had to stop himself from gagging from the too sweet smell that entered his nose.

He peered over the counter and saw a pink glowing fairy-like being. It was small and was wearing a puffy dress and had puffy hair in puffy round pigtails that were pointed down. It was waving around a wand with a puff ball on the end.

Rad blinked, "It's a puff ball?"

The "puff ball" froze and glared at Rad. It then saw his own wand before turning to flee.

"Now Rad, it's Sweet!" Kero yelled, "Catch her before she gets out!"

Rad chased after Sweet making several grabs at her, but she kept flying higher and out of his reah. Rad growled as Sweet began to laugh mockingly at him.

"That's it! Windy, send Sweet through a wind tunnel!" He threw the card out in front of him and hit the card.

Windy came from the card and began to circle Sweet until she was spinning dizzily. When she was done, Sweet twirled lower to the ground as her head spun.

"Now Rad!" Kero shouted.

Rad raised his staff, "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" His swing stopped mid-way and a glowing shell card appeared as chime bells rang. Sweet dissolved as she was sucked back into the card and floated over to Rad's hand. Kero cheered, "The pastries are saved!"

Rad face faulted, ' _Of course._ '


	5. Jump Up

Rad stared at the town at night. Clow Cards fell like rain. He saw Kero floating beside him, but looking at the clock tower in the distance. Rad spoke something, but no sound came out. Kero turned to him as three feathered wings appeared at his heels, and he took a leap into the air.

* * *

Kero yawned and awoke, stretching his limbs. He remembered that Rad had school, so no point in letting the kid sleep in. He glided up to him and nudged him with his hands. "Wake up Rad."

Rad groaned something before waking up. He blinked blearily at a floating teddy bear. "A plushy?"

Kero groaned this time. "Still not fully awake." He slapped Rad a few times. "Wake up!"

Rad jolted awake. "What was that for?" he demanded rubbing his face. "And what's with waking me up?"

"Well, you do have school." Kero pointed out, nodding at his own statement.

Rad rolled his eyes as he got out of bed. He tossed on some clean clothes and went downstairs. He found his aunt sitting at the kitchen table, coffee in hand, and watching the morning news. "Hey Aunt Raven, whatcha watching?"

The blond woman looked up and smiled slightly. "Good morning Rad, I'm just watching the news."

Rad looked at the TV and frowned from what he heard. "Recent string of toy store robberies?" he repeated.

Raven nodded. "After school, could you go check on the shop? I need to go to the city to pick up something."

Rad nodded. "Sure." Rad took one more look at the TV before making himself some toast.

"One more thing." Raven said and Rad looked at her. She smiled again. "Be sure to have Bluestreak on speed dial."

Rad raised a brow. "Um, alright." he said awkwardly.

Raven nodded and grabbed her keys as she headed to the doors. "Remember to lock the door." she said before closing the door behind her.

After Rad finished his breakfast he grabbed his backpack and put Bluestreak on speed dial (just to humor his aunt) and he locked the door and headed to school.

* * *

Rad stared at the shelves of the toy store suspiciously. He was checking to see if anything was missing. "So, nothing's gone?"

The worker nodded. "Did the inventory just as I got in."

Rad nodded and smiled. He turned around in surprise when he heard a horn honk. "Um, I have to go." he went outside to see a yellow Volkswagen, and inside were Spike and Carly. "Hey."

"Hi Rad, did you hear about the robberies?" Carly asked.

Rad nodded solemnly. "That's why my Aunt Raven made me check on her store."

"Was anything stolen?" Spike asked.

"No." Rad answered. "If only there was some clue."

"Well, the police are saying that the only thing stolen were stuffed animals, and that the strange was that it seemed the burglar was already inside the store, only there was no sign of prints anywhere." Carly said. "Strange huh?"

Rad felt a sliver of suspicion about the situation. "Yeah, that is strange. Um was there something you wanted?"

"No." Bumblebee answered. "Bluestreak wanted me to tell you that he'll be back from the mission with the others later."

"Oh, alright." Rad shrugged. Everyone thought the two were just good friends, but only very few knew the actual truth between them. Rad was just glad he told Bluestreak about his magic before he had to leave. "Thanks for the message." he said before walking away.

When he got home, he found his aunt reading the newspaper. "Was anything stolen?" she asked looking up at him.

Rad shook his head. "Nope." Raven sighed in relief. He then headed upstairs and tossed his pack on his bed as Kero floated out of his drawer.

"Hey Rad, how was your day?" he asked.

Rad shrugged. "Same old, same old." he then looked serious. "Though there have been reports of strange robberies that say the perpetrator was already in the store, and I was wondering, could it be a Clow Card?"

Kero held his chin. "Maybe, but we'll have to go and investigate to make sure."

Rad nodded. "Tonight."

* * *

Rad grabbed Kero as he headed downstairs and opened the door. "I'm going out!"

"Be back by curfew!" Was the last thing he heard before closing the door.

Rad let Kero go as they both started their search. "So, you and that robot guy seem pretty close." Kero said out of the blue.

Rad nodded. "His name is Bluestreak, and yes, we are close."

"You two dating?" Kero asked bluntly.

Rad blushed bright red. "Kero!"

"Are you?" Kero persisted.

"Well, yes, but only a few know." Rad answered, his blush still evident.

"Why?"

"Just because we don't want anyone to pry into our relationship."

Kero dropped the subject as they neared the park, and he tensed while Rad felt a sudden rush of exhilarating adrenaline go through him, as if he was taking a great leap.

"You felt that, right?" Rad asked.

Kero nodded and closed his eyes. They snapped open a second later. "It's coming from the park!"

Rad rushed through the empty streets as they neared the park. They heard a boing sound and saw a round bottle-like bodied creature, which looked suspiciously like a rabbit.

"A pink rabbit?" Rad questioned aloud.

"That's jump, get it Rad!" Kero yelled.

Rad was silently thankful that no one was around. Jump looked over at them and it let out a white glow and all the plushies began swarming around Rad and hitting him.

Rad smirked. "These are only stuffed animals."

"It only trying to distract you!" Kero shouted.

Rad saw Jump trying to escape. "Not if I can help it." he said and ran after the Card. He made a grab for the card, but it jumped and landed on his head. When Jump jumped off, it sent Rad face first into the dirt. Rad growled. "Damn sissy pink rabbit!" he shouted rubbing his nose and standing back up.

Jump froze and Kero began to sweat when it turned around and began glaring at Rad. "Um, Rad, maybe you shouldn't have done that." Kero said nervously.

"Huh? Why?" Rad then noticed all the toys begin attaching themselves to Jump, making it expand and grow bigger. Both looked up in shock and awe. "So that's why."

"Run!" Kero yelled.

Rad quickly complied as Jump began to waddle after them. 'How can I beat that?' he thought. "Is Jump smart?"

Kero was caught a bit off guard. "Not particularly."

"Good." Rad then stopped and turned back around. He then charged toward Jump.

"Are you crazy?" Kero shouted in disbelief.

"Sort of!" Rad yelled. He momentarily stopped in front of Jump. "Hey, down here you pink sissy rabbit!" Jump looked down and glared. It raised its foot to stomp on Rad, but the Cardcaptor held his ground, he'd just hoped he didn't end up like a pancake.

Jump's foot raised a little high and it flailed its stubby arms as it toddled backwards and fell. The stuffed toys all fell own from the sky, Jump among them, and it landed on the ground, out cold.

"Seal it, hurry!" Kero yelled.

Rad released his Sealing Wand and raised it above his head. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" his swig stopped mid-way and a glowing shell card appeared, along with the ringing of chimes. Jump was raised off the ground and it disintegrated before being sucked into the card. The card flew over to Rad and landed in his hand. "So, what can Jump do?" he asked Kero.

"Jump can leap great bounds and possess inanimate objects." Kero replied.

Rad looked around at the toys littering the ground. "Huh, Aunt Raven was right." he mused as he took out his cell phone and hit speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Hi Blue. You know those robberies? Yeah, it was a Clow Card." Rad said.

"Rad, are you alright? Did you get hurt? Are you-"

Rad chuckled. "Easy Blue. I'm fine, just wanted to know if you'd come over to the park to help me return these toys."

"Be right there."

Surprisingly enough, Bluestreak got there in 15 minutes.

'He must have broken a lot of speeding limits to get here this fast.' Both Kero and Rad thought sweat dropping.


	6. Forest Feel

"Okay, you said you would explain the Clow Cards, so explain." Rad said. They were sitting on Blustreak's berth, both Rad and Kero in front of him.

Kero rubbed his head sheepishly. "Oh, I did say that, didn't I?" Both Cardcaptor and Autobot nodded. "Well, the Clow Cards were created by a great sorcerer named Clow Reed. These cards though were so powerful that Clow himself had created the Clow book and placed me on the cover, but now that Rad released them all..."

"Okay, we get it!" Rad snapped. "I don't need a guilt trip."

"Wait, will I be able to see these cards?" Bluestreak asked.

"Perhaps." Kero said. "Even though you have no magical powers in you, you can still see them if they aren't cloaked."

A horrifying thought crossed Rad's mind. "The Autobots managed to pick up the signal of the Clow Cards, could the Decepticons also have picked it up?"

"The who?" Kero asked.

"The Decepticons." Rad answered. "The bad guys." he clarified.

Kero made an understanding sound. "Well, like I said, even if they managed to pick up the signal, they wouldn't be able to use them."

Both Rad, and Bluestreak exchanged glances of uncertainty. Kero had no idea how the Decepticons were, but if he said they wouldn't be able to use the cards, they had to trust him.

Kero's ears twitched suddenly. "What is it Kero?" Rad asked upon seeing Kero suddenly tense.

"I thought I heard something." Kero said looking up at the vent. "It was probably nothing."

"What the frag?" Someone yelled outside the room.

Bluestreak held Rad more securely around the waist and Rad quickly grabbed Kero as the gunner hurried into the hall, only to stop short at the sight that greeted metal walls were lined with brown branches that had managed to burst through the wall, and more kept erupting at ground-level, some of the mini-bots already getting ensnared.

"What happened?" Bluestreak asked aloud.

"It just happened! These things just started sprouting out everywhere!" Brawn yelled, ripping the branches off himself and the other mini-bots.

Bluestreak dodged a sprouting branch. "This way!" he ran down a hall that wasn't yet spontaneously sprouting branches.

Suddenly though, a huge array of thick braches burst through the whole wall and block their exit from top to bottom, leaving only small crevices, which Rad took notice he could fit in-between.

"Bluestreak, put me down." he said.

"What?" Bluestreak asked incredulously.

"I think I know what this is, please." Rad said.

Bluestreak hesitated before hugging Rad close to his chassis and lowering him to the ground. "Go." Rad nodded and wedged through the space of braches and disappearing from sight.

"Are you glitches? He could get hurt!" Windcharger exclaimed. The minibots all fairly liked Rad because he was nice to them and never made fun of them.

"He knows how to take care of himself." Bluestreak assured them.

"Against sprouting stuff that came from Primus-knows-where?" Cliffjumper exclaimed sarcastically.

Bluestreak had no response to that.


	7. Rain Down

Rad ran down the hall, Kero still in his arms. "Clow Card?"

"Clow Cards." Kero corrected. "This can only be the work of Wood and Rain."

"Explain." Rad demanded without stopping.

"Wood is a gentle card, but Rain is a mischievous one. So when Rain is with Wood, they make a forest, and this is the general result." Kero spread his arms to indicate the wood lined walls of the Ark to emphasize his point.

"How do we find them?" Rad asked.

"Follow the forest to where it is the most covered." Kero instructed.

"Got it." Rad said following the branches. He passed the Med Bay to see Ratchet swatting the branches with a wrench. "Getting close." he past the room Teletran-1 was in to see a fritzing Red Alert, and an already crashed Prowl. "Getting real close."

He stopped short at the engine room and found all the branches and vines coming from inside. Rad pulled off his key and held it in front of him. "The Key which hides the power of the dark, show your true powers before me, I, Rad, command you under our contract, release!" The key elongated into a staff and Rad and Kero raced in to see a forestry plant being rained down by a blue cloud.

"Rain, stop this!" Kero yelled.

A blue girl popped out from the cloud in a jester-like costume and a rain drop design on her forehead, and a jester hat. She giggled and floated over Rad's head, rain now pouring down on him.

"Ah!" Rad covered his head with his arms as best as he could.

"You have to seal her Rad, and all the wood will disappear." Kero explained.

At the word 'seal' Rain seem to notice the Sealing Wand in Rad's hands, and tied to make a break for it, only to find the metal door closed.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Rad shouted and Rain quickly began pouring over Wood again. The branches all went at Rad, who was forced to dodge them. As he was dodging the branches, he began to notice how Rain's water began to evaporate. 'That's it!' he thought pulling out a card. "Possess the controls and turn up the heat, Jump!" he struck down on the card and the rabbit-like creature seemed to phase into the controls.

The temperature then began to gradually go up. Rad wiped his brow and Kero began sweating as well. He gasped in surprise. "It's actually working!" Rad looked up and saw that not only was the water getting less and less, Rain looked absolutely exhausted. She finally got dizzy-eyed and passed out on the floor.

Rad lifted his wand above his head. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" his swing stopped mid-way and hit a glowing shell card as chimes sounded. Rain began dissolving and was absorbed into the card. When it was done, Rain and Jump (who had stopped possessing the controls) floated over to him.

A green glow caught his eye and he saw Wood had taken on her true form; a lady with long green hair, and her dress was made of leaves.

"It's okay, Rad, Wood is a gentle card, remember?" Kero reminded the tense Cardcaptor.

Rad nodded and once again lifted his staff above his head. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" Once again Chimes sounded and a glowing shell card appeared to suck Wood in. Once sealed, she floated over to Rad. "Alright, a two for one!" he cheered.

"Well done, Rad." Kero complimented.

Rad wiped the remaining sweat off his forehead smiling. "Now let's get back to Blue." he said grabbing Kero and heading out of the engine room, not even noticing the pair of optics watching from the vent.

* * *

"So they're not suspicious of anything?" Rad asked from the drivers' seat of Bluestreak's alt-mode.

"Nope. They only thought it was an experiment gone wrong, like someone took one of Hound's Earth plant specimens." The Datsun explained. "Though we know what it really was, can you imagine though what the other 'Bots would think if they found out it was actually something so illogical as magic? And..."

"Easy Blue, I get it." Rad interrupted gently. He saw from the corner of his eye, Kero munching on the sweets he bought him. "Really now, I know you like sugar, but that's just unhealthy."

"Whatever." Kero replied flippantly. Rad merely rolled his eyes.


	8. Glow Worm

Deep in the ocean lay the crashed ship of the Decepticons, the Nemesis. Inside the command room, a mechanical bird lands on the shoulder of a navy blue mech. It squawked. "Lord Megatron, Laserbeak has brought back information you may wish to see." Soundwave said in his monotone.

"Show me." Megatron commanded hiding slight's optics glowed as a holographic projection appeared, much like a movie screen. "What the slag is this?" Megatron roared as one of the human pets and that annoying Autobot gunner appeared on the screen.

His temper lessened to interest again as the yellow organic plushy called 'Kero' began telling the gunner and his human pet about these strange and powerful cards which apparently the boy accidently unleashed onto the modern world. Things got increasingly interesting when someone shouted from the all of the screen. Soon, more and more mechs wandered in to the command room to the strange sight.

The Ark walls were all lined with branches and both the human and Kero were running down the hall. **"Clow card?"** Rad asked.

 **"Clow Cards."** Kero corrected. **"This can only be the work of Rain, and Wood."**

 **"Explain."** Rad demanded while still running.

 **"Wood is a gentle card, but Rain is a mischievous one. So when Rain is with Wood, they make a forest, and this is the general result."** Kero spread his arms to the walls covered with branches.

 **"How do we find them?"** Rad asked.

 **"Follow the forest to the most covered area."**

Laserbeak's screen changed to the engine room to show a blue girl in a jester-like outfit on a blue cloud raining over a large forestry plant. The girl giggled and moved over to Rad, effectively drenching him. This caused a few Decepticons to silently cheer on the blue girl.

 **"Seal her Rad."** Kero yelled.

The blue girl suddenly stopped and tried to escape, only to find the door closed.

 **"You're not getting out of here that easily!"** Rad yelled. He pulled out something and held that strange stick up as he shouted triumphantly. **"Possess the controls and turn the heat up, Jump!"** he hit what appeared to be a card with the stick and quite a few Decepticons crashed when a pink rabbit creature came out of the card and phased into the control panel.

"What the frag was that thing?" Skywarp asked aloud, since he was far too fascinated by the spectacle on the hologram to crash.

He was ignored though as the yellow organic yelled out, **"It's working!"**

Rad lifted his orange stick as the blue girl passed out from the heat. **"Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!"** And more Decepticons crashed as Rad hit thing air and a glowing card appeared and Rain got sucked in.

The screen corner had a green glow and rad looked over at it and the hologram widened to show a glowing green woman with long green hair and a dress made of leaves.

 **"It's okay Rad, Wood is a gentle card, remember?"** Kero reminded.

Rad nodded mutely and once again changed a being into a card. He smiled as he caught it. **"Alright, two-for-one!"** he cheered.

Kero smiled. **"Well done Rad."**

The hologram disappeared as Laserbeak's optics stopped glowing. There was utter silence from the Decepticons that were still standing.

"This is a most intriguing discovery. The human seems to have acquired some interesting powers, and with the Autobots ignorant to it all, aside from their gunner." Megatron said. "These cards are most likely the energy signals we have been picking up."

"And what do you intend to do about this?" Starscream sneered.

The Decepticon leader merely looked at his TIC. "Soundwave."

"Solution: Laserbeak continues to monitor human youngling when abnormal signatures appear."

Just then a beep sounded, signaling another energy spike.

* * *

"This is nice." Rad murmured as he rested on Bluestreak's hood. "Too bad we can't do this more often."

"I agree completely, this is a very nice evening. And..." As Bluestreak began to ramble, Rad smiled as he closed his eyes, the warm metal of the hood contrasting with the cool evening breeze. "You're glowing, Rad." Bluestreak said abruptly.

Rad opened his eyes lazily and looked over his shoulder as he sat on one elbow. "Excuse me?" he quirked a brow.

There was an embarrassed stutter as Bluestreak rambled out his explanation. "W-w-well, the-there's a-all these l-little g-g-glowing orb-s floating around y-you."

Rad blinked and sat upright. He did see little orbs of lights floating around which looked a lot like fireflies. He calmly reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed a number and Kero answered, or at least he was hoping it was him. "Kero?"

"Yeah Rad?"

"Are there any Clow Cards that look like fireflies?" Rad asked.

"That'd be Glow. She isn't aggressive, so she should be easy to catch." Kero said.

"Thanks Kero." Rad said hanging up his cell and pocketing it. He slid off the hood of the Datsun and took off his key. "The key which hides the power of the dark, show your true powers before me, I, Rad, command you, under our contract, Release!" his key elongated into its staff form and held it above his head. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" he swung and the staff stopped mid-way as a glowing shell card appeared and chimes sounded. The firefly objects got sucked into the card and it floated into Rad's hand. "The Glow." he read and saw a fairy-looking firefly-like creature as the picture.

"Be sure to thank her." Bluestreak said.

"Hmm? Why?" Rad asked curiously.

"She just made our date a lot more special." Bluestreak replied.

Rad sweat dropped. 'You certainly have a way of seeing the bright side of things, Blue.'


	9. Drown Out

"Is this water safe to be in?" Bumblebee asked looking at the indigo water of the ocean.

"What could possibly be dangerous in the shallow end?" Spike asked breezily.

"Perhaps you need a reminder that the Decepticons are at the bottom of this ocean." Rad explained lamely.

"There is that." Carly said nodding.

"That's why Bluestreak's with us, remember?" Spike reminded them as he gestured to the gunner, who was looking around in a Red Alert-like paranoid fashion.

Rad rolled his eyes and stared at the water with a frown. He let out a gasp as he felt a sensation go through him. It felt like he was in freezing water. That was the only warning he got before he felt something wrap around his ankle and he let out a surprised yell as he was dragged deeper into the water.

"Rad!" Both Carly, and Spike tried to pull Rad back, but whatever had him pulled harder and the sudden jerk caused Spike and Carly to let go.

"Ah!" Rad's voice gurgled as he was pulled under the water. He held his breath as he struggled against the unseen foe. He felt something wrap around his neck, but when his own hands flew to his neck, he felt something, but couldn't see anything. 'It's like the water's attacking me.'

Rad tried to pull at the solidness around his neck, but accidently inhaled and the water rushed in. Rad began choking on the water and his eyes began to close. The last thing he heard before he blacked out was a splash of water.

* * *

Rad felt weightless as he stared at his surroundings in shock. It was a garden themed place contrasting with the murky freezing water he had just been in. There were lots of flowers, trees, and plants that lined a gazebo; which was painted pink and white. He got up from his sitting position, still weirded out, and felt a strange pull that had him walking to the gazebo.

As he got closer he saw a person sitting in the gazebo. It was an older woman with long brown hair that was braided back and she was wearing a red and pink Chinese-style dress. She looked up at Rad with emerald green eyes and smiled. "I'm glad you made it." she frowned slightly. "Though I'm sorry it had to be under the current situation."

Rad blinked before it hit him. "I was drowning." he looked around before continuing, "Am I dead?"

"If your other hadn't saved you, then you would be." The woman said. She gestured for him to come closer and Rad sat down next to her. "My name is Sakura."

"I'm Rad."

Sakura smiled slyly. I know." Then she turned serious. "We don't have much time before you wake up, so I need to tell you something very important."

Rad nodded. "Shoot."

"Some of the cards are going to try and kill you harder than they tried to kill me." Sakura said with deadly seriousness.

Rad's eyes widened. "Like they tried to kill you'?" he echoed. "Were you a Cardcaptor too?"

Sakura nodded. "I'm your predecessor you could say."

"Why didn't Kero mention you?" Rad asked confused.

Sakura waved her hand dismissively. "It's Kero, he's sometimes forgetful if it doesn't involve candy or video games."

Rad smiled slightly before frowning. "Wait, are you dead?" Sakura nodded sadly. "What happened?"

Sakura's eyes darkened. "I'd rather not talk about it." Rad back off the subject knowing that it was probably a touchy one for her, like how talking about his absent parents was for him. Her demeanor brightened. "So, anything you want to ask before you wake up?'

Rad nodded and smiled. "So, what was being a Cardcaptor like for you?"

Sakura smiled. "In a word: amazing." The scenery began to fizz and warp. Sakura looked around sadly. "It seems our time has come to an end."

Rad looked at her in confusion. "Huh?"

Sakura rolled her eyes as she began to become transparent. "It means it's time for me to go and you to wake up...Raddy." she smirked slightly.

Rad scowled as his vision began to go white. "Don't call me that." he snapped before he blacked out.


	10. Water's Edge

Carly put her ear to Rad's chest. "Well, he's breathing, but why hasn't he woken up yet?"

Bluestreak cursed himself for not getting Rad out of the water faster. He sent out a silent prayer. 'Please, please wake up.'

As if answering the prayer, Rad's eyes snapped open and he began coughing up water. Carly hugged him and both Bumblebee and Spike let out relieved sighs.

"Don't scare us like that!" Carly said and released Rad from the hug.

Rad smiled weakly. "I'll try not to."

"That's not funny." Bluestreak said sternly. "I-We could've lost you."

Rad stared at him in disbelief. "It was a joke, I don't plan dying anytime soon." he murmured grumpily.

Bumblebee frowned. "It's not Rad's fault he almost drowned, Blue."

Bluestreak flinched away before picking Rad up. "I know, but I didn't want to lose him."

Rad smiled up at him. "Same here."

* * *

"This is bad." Kero said after Rad told him about his almost drowning.

"Is this a Clow Card then?" Rad asked drying his hair with a towel.

"Yes, this is Watery." Kero answered. "She's a high level card, also an offensive card, so she's got quite a temper."

"Gee, wonder why." Rad said sarcastically. "So, how we going to catch her?"

Kero seemed to ignore Rad's question and mused aloud. "I didn't expect this to happen so soon, especially with Watery." he mumbled.

Rad frowned. "Couldn't I just hit her with all the cards?"

Kero shook his head. "She's water, Rad." he said seriously. "We need to come up with something before she ices someone like she tried to do with you."

Rad sweat dropped. "Did you really just say 'ices'?" he asked. 'Wait, ice?' he thought in surprise. He heard a horn honk and looked out his window. He saw a blue and gray Datsun outside and smiled. "Be right back." he told Kero before tossing the towel on the bed and running outside. He got into the car and patted the steering wheel. "Hey Blue."

"Hello Rad. Are you doing okay, because you really did give us quite a scare, and the water must have been freezing, and..." Bluestreak rambled.

"Really, Blue, I'm fine." Rad said smiling. Then his contorted in thought. 'Freezing?' he gasped. "Bluestreak, you're a genius!"

"I am?" Bluestreak questioned.

"Yes, come back here later, I've got a card to catch!" Rad smirked.

* * *

Rad stared out at the water as he got out of Bluestreak's alt-mode. Rad took the key off his neck and held it out in front of him. "The key which hides the power of the dark, show your true powers before me, I, Rad, command you, under our contract, Release!" The key elongated into a staff and he look at his two companions. "Yow two stay here."

"What? Are you crazy? We're not going to let you go out there alone!" Kero yelled in protest.

Rad shook his head. "I need to do this, and I don't her to hurt either of you."

Bluestreak also didn't want Rad to go out there alone, but on some level he could understand Rad's need to get even with the card. Watery had tried to kill Rad, so now he was retaliating by catching her. "If this goes, as the humans say, south, I'm coming in."

Rad nodded. He marched out to the beach and glared at the water. "Come out now, Watery!"

The water began frothing and a stream of water shot out and went straight for Rad's neck. Rad deftly dodged and rolled away.

"Is that all you got?" he asked mockingly and stuck his tongue out as he discreetly pulled out a card.

The water sputtered about viciously and a large stream shot into the sky and twisted into a cone shape which morphed into a young girl made of the water. She had long blue hair, blue eyes, webbed hands, fins protruding out of the side of her face like ears, and a pair of fins on her back like wings. On her forehead were four large blue scales, at her waist were a pair of tail fins and from there she was connected to the water.

She let out a strange roar and spread her webbed, clawed hands as she shot toward Rad. Rad dodged her again as she twisted around and swiped at him. He jumped away and threw the card he had into the air. Watery glared and hurried over to him as he struck down on the card. "Freeze, Watery, Windy!"

Watery managed to get a hold of Rad and lifted him into the air by the collar, but by the time she noticed Windy, she had already begun to frost and freeze. Watery glared at Rad resentfully as he smirked. She growled and raised her arm, claws spread. Just as she was about to strike him, her arm had begun to freeze, as well as the rest of her.

Once Watery was fully frozen, Rad wriggled around and slumped his shoulders. It seemed he was stuck. "Um, Blue?" Bluestreak transformed and walked over to him and held the boy as best as he could. Rad smiled at him. "Thanks." he lifted the staff awkwardly above his head. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!"

A card formed, chimes sounded, and the statue began cracking. The ice got sucked into the shell card like a vacuum. Once all the ice was gone, Rad fell back into Bluestreak's palm as he caught the card. Rad smiled as he got up and gestured for Blue to lean closer. Once within reaching distance, Rad leaned up and planted a kiss on his lip components. "Thanks Bluestreak. If it wasn't for you, I never would've figured it out." he whispered.

Kero floated over. "That was amazing, Rad. How did you know to freeze Watery?"

"When Bluestreak said 'freezing', I got the idea to use Windy." Rad said. He yawned and stretched his arms out. "All that jumping around made me real tired."

Kero smiled. "Well if anyone deserves a rest, it's you."


	11. Lock Up Part 1

Rad gathered up his books and put them in his bag and slung it over his shoulder and headed out of the school at the bell. His end of the year exams were in a week and he needed to study. His cell phone rang and he answered it. "Hello?"

"Rad." It was his aunt. "I need to head into the city again, could you please place the order at the factory?"

Rad resisted sighing. He needed to start studying, but his aunt didn't ask him for much, and was a guest in her home. "Sure."

"And be careful."

Raised raised a brow. "It's just a toy order, what could happen?" His aunt had no response. "See ya."

"See ya."

Rad hung up his phone and headed to the toys that made the mechanical toys and thanked Primus that it was only a 15 minute walk. He went into the main office and was allowed into the manager's office.

"Hello Rad. Doing errands for your aunt?" he asked genially.

"Sorta. I'm here to place an order for more of the toys." Rad replied.

The manager nodded and gave Rad a pen and a clipboard. Rad had just finished filling out the order and was about to sign his own name when the sounds of explosives and yells of surprise and fear reached his ears. Both he and manager looked out the window to the factory part and saw three of Soundwave's cassettes; Ravage, Rumble, and Frenzy.

"Slag." Rad cursed.

The manager grabbed a hold of Rad's arm and shoved him out of the door. "Get out of the building now, Rad!"

Rad stumbled a bit as he regained his balance and took out his cell. He tried to dial a number, but pulled back incredulously at what he got. "No service?" he grounded his teeth together and tried to find a signal, since the workers were too concerned about getting out than calling the 'proper' authorities.

When Rad finally got a signal, he noticed too late that he had wandered into the factory part. "Finally! Got a signal." he blinked when he heard a hiss and saw Ravage snarling at him. "Scrap!" he did what any sane human would do in that situation, turn tail and run.

Ravage turn to look at Frenzy and growled something. Frenzy scowled. "Yeah, yeah, I'll stop him." he changed one hand into a pile driver and took off after Rad.

Rad ran into the first door he saw and closed it behind him. He caught his breath as he looked around. The room was dimly lit by the low lighting on the ceiling and he noticed-to his horror-that there was no other exit. Rad heard heavy footsteps outside the door and quickly hid behind the door, at least this way there was a slight chance he would go unnoticed.

As Frenzy came into the room and started to look around, Rad tried to sneak out, only to freeze mid-step as a feeling of being constricted and boxed in came over him. He let out a gasp as the door suddenly slammed shut on its own and Frenzy whirled around, only to see Rad's frozen form.

He grabbed a hold of Rad and shoved the pile driver inches from his face. "Your cell phone, hand it over." he growled.

Rad's shock melted away and he scowled. "We have bigger things to worry about than my cell."

The cassette frowned. "Like what?"

Rad frowned also. "You think 'I' slammed the door shut?"

Frenzy changed his pile driver back into a hand, and while still keeping a grip on Rad, he tried to open the door. By breaking it down. The door didn't even shake from the force. "Well frag."

It seemed they were stuck in the room together.


	12. Lock Up Part 2

Rad leaned against the wall of the room he was stuck in, Frenzy though kept trying to break down the door. "If it didn't work 10 minutes ago, what makes you think it will work now?"

Frenzy scowled at him, but it fell flat and the insult died in his vocalizer as he stared at Rad. Was the fleshling actually glowing? It was true, in the very dim lighting, the human seemed to have a soft white glow outlining him. His scowl deepened as he went back to trying to bash the door down. Couldn't let that stupid glowing fleshy distract him after all.

Rad meanwhile was trying to think of what card it could be. It seemed to be keeping them both trapped for some reason and he couldn't help but roll his eyes at Frenzy's unorthodox attempt to get out. And there was no way he was using his cell and risking having it smashed up. Might as well talk some, the silence -aside from the smashing sounds-was overwhelming. "So, seems pretty low to steal from a toy factory."

Frenzy stopped and glared at him. "And what would you know about the Decepticons, Squishy." he spat.

Rad glared right back. "Frag you." he retorted angrily, though got very uneasy when a grin suddenly came to the cassette's lip components.

"Well, I've never tried it with a human, and since you did volunteer..." he purred and reached out lazily at Rad.

Rad recoiled. "Frag off!"

Frenzy held up a digit as he heard a beeping in his helm. "In a minute." he said not noticing the passing look of disgust on Rad's face. :Yeah?:

:Where the frag are you?: It was Rumble.

:Just hit a bit of a snag, should be back soon.: After all, there really no need to let anyone know he was stuck in a room with a Squishy and couldn't get out.

:Hurry the slag up then!: Rumble shouted.

:Yeah yeah.: Frenzy sent back flippantly before cutting the comm. He looked back at Rad, only to see him now staring at the door with narrowed eyes and fingering that key of his. The human obviously wasn't going to do anything with him watching. So making a show of walking over to further into the room, he leaned against the wall and dimmed his optic band just enough to give the illusion of recharge.

It worked and Rad took his key off and glared at the door. This better work." he muttered before putting the key into the lock. It let out a flash and the door opened. He let out a small gasp as the image of a padlock with wings surrounding the chamber appeared. He threw a quick glance at Frenzy before holding out his key. "Release!" The staff elongated and he raise it above his head. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card." he whispered before bringing the staff down.

Frenzy watched in fascination. Sure, he'd seen the footage that Laserbeak had brought, but to see it actually see it happening? It was so surreal. Once it was done, his optic bad zeroed in on the writing at the bottom and had to hold back a snort. It read: The Lock.

Rad didn't miss a beat as he reached down for his bag and the clipboard before bolting out the door like the Slag maker was after him...or another Decepticon. With that reminder, the cassette lazily straightened and ran after Rad, only to find him gone.

'He's a fast little glitch, I'll give him that.'

* * *

Rad only stopped running when he reached the outside. He let out very heavy pants as he clutched his staff and the clipboard to his chest. He let out a heavy sigh before changing the staff back into a key.

Not a moment later he heard someone yell, "Hey! He's over here!"

Rad looked up as several workers and the manager came over, the manager looking relieved. "Are you alright, Rad?"

Rad nodded and hurriedly wrote down his signature on the clipboard before handing it over to the manager. "Yea, managed to get out, nothing happened." he lied smoothly. No need to worry anyone with the fact he'd been trapped in a room with a Decepticon. Speaking of which... "What about the Decepticons?"

"They took off as soon as the Autobots got here." The manager said.

Rad hummed non-commitally as he put his key back on its string. "If you'll excuse me then, I should be heading home."


	13. Transitory Bubbles

Most of the Decepticons were gathered in the Rec. Room behind Laserbeak. The Condor's optics glowed as a hologram appeared, showing Rad walking toward the ocean with a scowl on his face and that stick of his in hand. He stopped and glared at the water.

 **"Come out now, Watery!"** The water began frothing and a stream of water shot out and went straight for Rad's neck. Rad dodged it and landed on his feet. **"Is that all you got!"** he asked mockingly and stuck his tongue out.

'Squishy's got bolts.' Frenzy thought in surprise. "Hey Beaky, when did you shoot this?" he ignored the overall hissing of 'Shut up's.

Laserbeak squawked. "Two days ago, now be quiet!"

The water from the hologram frothed viciously and the water twisted to reveal a young girl made entirely out of the ocean water. She let out a strange roar and spread her clawed webbed hands and swiped at Rad, who dodged.

"Just think, that thing was down here with us in the ocean. Wonder what it could've done if it had managed to find us." Rumble mused aloud, though it was for the sole purpose to unnerve the other Decepticons since the possibility was far too real.

Rad pulled another dodge and threw a card in front of him and brought the staff down as the water girl rushed at him. **"Freeze Watery, Windy!"**

The wind spirit began circling around them as Watery lifted Rad off his feet by the collar and brought back one of her clawed hands to strike him, glaring at Rad resentfully; who had the audacity to smirk. Her hand froze literally as the rest of her started freezing too. After Watery was done becoming an ice sculpture, face still set in a harsh glare, Rad tried to wriggle free.

He slumped his shoulders and pouted to himself. Rad moved around again before looking over at something. **"Um, B-"** The hologram suddenly died as Laserbeak's' optics stopped glowing.

There were groans of disappointment as Laserbeak flew off and Frenzy followed after him into the hall. "Hey, Beaky. What'd you leave out?"

The Condor stayed in mid-air, wings flapping. "Nothing anyone would want to see."

"And what would that be?" Frenzy asked.

"The human kissing his Autobot." Laserbeak replied sounding disgusted.

Laserbeak flew off and Frenzy stayed rooted to the spot.

* * *

Rad blinked his eyes open as he felt a pop on his nose. He looked up and saw pink bubbles forming in his room. "What the slag?"

Kero, upon hearing Rad's exclamation, popped his head out of his drawer. "Rad, what-" his question died when he saw the bubbles. "It's Bubbles!"

"Well how do I catch it?" Rad asked taking his key off his neck.

"Simple, Bubbles isn't an aggressive card." Kero replied.

"That's a relief." Rad held out his key and chanted the incantation. In a flash of light he know held the sealing wand and held it above his head. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" A glowing shell card appeared at the tip of the wand's beak as chimes sounded. All the bubbles were sucked into the card despite their varying sizes.

"Rad?" A voice asked outside the door.

"Hide!" Rad hissed as he had both the staff and the card behind his back.

Kero ducked back into the drawer just as Raven poked her head in. "Is there someone in here with you?"

Rad shook his head. "Nope, just the TV." he blanched when his aunt saw it was turned off. "Um, I just turned it off."

Raven still looked around the room, her eyes settled on the open drawer for a second before shrugging. "Must've been the TV then." she agreed before leaving and closing the door behind her.

Kero and Rad both sighed in relief. "That was too close." he said.

Kero nodded. "You said it, Raddy."

Rad shot him an annoyed glare.


	14. Flower's Token

Rad looked at the flyer that Spike had placed on his desk. "What's this?"

"It's a flyer for a championship race and my dad is sponsoring a racer. Do you want to come?" Spike asked.

"Hmm, alright." Rad relented. "I'll go." A thought occurred to him. "Where is it?"

"Read the flyer." Spike said patiently.

Rad let out an "Oh" before looking back down at the flyer. June 15, 11:00 am to 6:00pm. "It's the weekend before the exams, joy." he muttered.

"You could study there too." Spike offered.

"Where?" Rad asked.

"In the pit crew area of course." Spike replied grinning.

Rad stared before grinning back. "I'll be there."

* * *

Rad put several books into his pack as he gets ready to go to the race. "I'll be back after 6." he told Kero.

Kero looked up from the supply of chocolate Rad had bought him. "Just be careful."

Rad smiled reassuring. "I'll be fine, trust me." he said before leaving the room. He headed downstairs and outside. Rad waited until a blue and gray Datsun pulled up in front of him. He got into the driver's seat, put his seat belt, and kissed the steering wheel. "Hello Blue."

The engine purred. "Hello Rad."

The Datsun pulls away from the curb and drives away. On the way to the race track, Rad couldn't help but get an inkling of suspicion once they arrived. Rad got out and patted the hood. "Later Blue." he said going to the stadium.

He walked into the pit area where Spike, and Sparkplug were. "You made it." Spike said smiling.

Rad smiled back and sat down on the bench. "So where's your racer?"

Sparkplug gestured to a blue and white racer. "There he is."

Rad walked over to the sleek car and was awed. "Amazing, this looks just like Mirage."

Spike and Sparkplug exchange glances. "What makes you say that?"

Rad shot them a deadpan look. "I just said it looks just like him." he took out books. "I'll just stay here." Rad heard them leave and glanced over at the blue race car one more time before reading through his first book.

After a while, Rad suddenly felt as if petals were brushing against him and a flowery aroma entered his nose. 'Not now.' he thought and got up and looked outside to see the crowd cheering and pink flower petals falling like confetti.

Rad threw the racer a suspicious glance before taking his key off. "The key that hides the power of the dark." A golden circle appeared underneath him. "Show your true powers before me, I, Rad, command you, under our contract, Release!" His key flashed in a golden light before changing into its staff form.

Rad missed the blue sparking coming over the blue car as he saw the petals beginning to overwhelm and pile in the stands. "Not good." he muttered and began looking around until he saw a glowing pink figure on the opposite building.

Rad grimaced when he saw that the racers had now stopped racing because they too were being overwhelmed and as he ran through the stadium hall to get to the opposite building, he failed to notice a certain mechanical bird or a certain yellow racer.

Rad looked up at the building's height and frowned. "There's no way in hell I'm running up all those stairs." he said and pulled out Windy. "I need you to help me get to the top of the building, Windy."

A swirl of air seemed to attach to him and for a brief moment, he felt the euphoria of flying. The feeling ended all-too-soon as his feet hit the ground of the roof. Rad turned to the card causing the disturbance.

It was a glowing pink woman with pink hair in corkscrew pigtails, wearing a pink dress and her forehead had a flower design on it. She didn't seem to notice him as she continued smiling down at something.

"Hey!" Rad pointed at her. "Cut this out!"

The woman then seemed to notice him, but instead of running or trying to attack him, she merely looked back at whatever it was she had staring at fondly. Rad, feeling curiously confused, followed her gaze. It appeared that while all the race cars were also being overwhelmed by flower petals, a single yellow racer didn't even have one on it, and all the petals surrounding it were yellow also.

While the car seemed familiar, he couldn't place it, but he didn't recognize the look on the woman's face. It was the same look he'd had on his own whenever he had looked at Blue. So smiling he chanted, "Someone's got a crush!"

The woman looked away uneasily and her face seemed to glow brighter.

Rad continued smiling. "Tell you what, you let me seal you, and I promise to give him a gift from you."

The woman stared at him for a moment before nodding and a bouquet of yellow flowers appeared in her hands.

Rad grabbed the bouquet and set it down carefully before lifting the staff above his head. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" His swing stopped mid-way as a glowing shell card appeared at the beak of the staff and chime bells sounded.

The woman casted one final look at the yellow car before she dissolved and was vacuumed into the card. The card stopped glowing and floated over to him. The card read: The Flower.

Rad sweat dropped.

* * *

Rad looked around the area before approaching the yellow racer, whose deriver was nowhere to be seen. He looked down at the bouquet in his arms. The flowers were-as far as he could tell-a blend of chrysanthemums and lilies, their yellow colors reflecting almost orange in the sunlight.

Rad placed the bouquet on the windshield, the breeze blowing the sweet smell of the flower onto his face. Rad sighed. "Flower must really have liked this this guy to put this much effort into her gift."

With that, Rad walked away to where Spike and Sparkplug were; he still had to study after all.


	15. Arrow's Catastrophe Part 1

Frenzy picked at the edge of his energon cube. The information he'd received from Laserbeak replaying in his processor.

 _"Hey 'Beaky, what'd you leave out?"_

 _"Nothing anyone would want to see."_

 _"And what would that be?"_

 _"The human kissing his Autobot."_

He frowned at the last part. Kissing his Autobot? For some reason the thought made him rather angry. In a fit of jealous rage he petulantly kicked his energon cube. Wait, jealous? Since when did he ever get jealous of an Autobot?

...Great, he just admitted to himself that he was jealous of an Autobots relation with that glowing fleshy, Rad. And he didn't even know which one it was!

Before Frenzy could lash out again, a familiar beeping filled the mess hall, signaling another energy spike. Maybe this he's tag along with 'Beaky.

* * *

Rad shifted in the passenger seat of the Datsun he was in. He suddenly began shaking, his heart rate increased slightly as he began to hyperventilate.

"Rad, calm down-" Bluestreak began, but Rad made a strange serpentine sound better suited for Watery.

"Calm down? Calm down?" Rad repeated in a slightly hysterical tone. "I have my Science exam today, my History exam tomorrow and my Math exam the day after that! I have to pull a late nighter at the school library tonight because of it!" he reached for his bag and looked in only to pull back in surprise. "Kero! What are you doing in there?"

Kero looked up at Rad sheepishly. "Well, um, you seemed so worried about these exams, so I thought I could come along to make sure you were alright. And keep you sane."

Rad stared at Kero incredulously before he began laughing hysterically. Kero looked at him worriedly. 'Too late. I think he's finally already cracked.' he thought.

Rad calmed down enough to see Kero's increasingly worried expression. "It's okay. It's just that these exams get me so wound up that I tend to freak out over them."

"I think it's a good idea for Kero to be with you for these exams." Bluestreak said. "He can be your good luck charm as the humans call them, and like he said, to keep you, uh, sane, for these tests." he added.

Rad thought it over. "Okay, you can stay. But you must be quiet and stay inside my back pack pocket." his face twisted up in a grimace. "And if I freak out, hit me."

Kero held up a stubby hand and gave a thumbs up. "You got it." he said cheerfully as he floated back into the pack.

'He sounded way too happy about my request.' Rad thought sweat dropping.

Bluestreak came to a stop outside the school and Rad gave the steering wheel a quick kiss before getting out. Rad's feet wobbled before he face-planted into the grass. "Rad, are you alright? Did you get hurt? Are you going to be okay?" Bluestreak asked frantically.

Rad waved the questions off as he spat out any grass that got into his mouth. "Yeah Blue, I'm fine." he got up and walked toward the school. 'Time to get this over with.'

* * *

Rad was feeling more relaxed since he had finished his exam and now he was in the library with all his History and Math books out on the table. Kero peeked out of the blonde's back pack and looked around. "Pretty empty." he whispered.

"It's near the end of the day, no one besides me is in here." Rad answered not looking up from his book.

Kero nodded absently before curling up and deciding to take a nap. "Wake me when you're done."

The silent room was very eerie since there was no one around, and it wasn't even time for school to end! The ticking of the clock made studying seem more boring, and Kero's soft snoring wasn't helping. Rad's eyes began drooping closed and his shoulders slumped as his book hit the table, his head landing on top of it, already fast asleep.

As the clock steadily ticked pass three and so far the sun sank until the sky turned a pinkish-orange, the inky blue colors of twilight spreading over the sky...and a pair of eyes slowly opened to the approaching night and the figure unhoused a short bow from their back.

He was here.

* * *

Kero opened his eyes as he uncurled from his ball form and rubbed his eyes. Looking around he saw that the library was already covered with the darkness the the night and outside the windows he could see the fading light of the sunset. Kero could make out Rad's sleeping form slumped over a Math book. Kero blinked when he thought he saw Rad actually glowing. Maybe Rad was unconsciously channeling his magic, thus making him glow?

With a shrug, Kero floated over to Rad and shook his shoulder. "Rad? Wake up Rad."

The blonde stirred and blue eyes opened blearily. "Kero? What time is it?" he muttered.

"Well, the sun is setting." The last traces of light faded all together. "Set." Kero corrected.

Rad sighed as he got up and stretched. "Time to head home." he said and the tiredness faded from his voice. Rad packed up his books and Kero looked around uneasily as he went back into the pack. As Rad excited through the library building, he saw a figure on top of the Science hall roof. "What would someone be doing on the roof?"

Kero looked up at the figure, and recognizing the figure by their long pigtails. His unease grew as he saw the figure notch a short winged bow and aimed it at the sky. "Rad?"

Rad looked up at the sky and sees tiny incoming objects. "Yes Kero?"

"Run!" Kero shouted as the objects turned out to be dozens of incoming arrows.

Rad turned and ran back into the library building as the arrows hit the spot he'd been standing on. Rad took Kero out of his pack and glared at him. "Explain!"

Kero glanced worriedly out at the now empty roof. "Well, this should be Arrow, an attack card."

"This isn't good." Rad said as he took out his key and chanted the incantation. In a flash the sealing wand appeared in his hands. "What was with those arrows? I only saw her shoot one!"

"That's Arrow's ability. She can create a dozen arrows from one single shot." Kero explained, worry still etched on his face.

"Swell, I have to deal with a long-range card." Rad gripped. He took off his backpack and took out the Clow Book. Hey, if he was going to be battling these cards, it was better to be safe than sorry.

While Rad was contemplating a makeshift plan to capture Arrow, hidden in the shadows of the school yard were Laserbeak and Frenzy. The card had noticed them immediately, but either it didn't care that they were there, or she didn't perceive them to be much of a threat to her. To say when both cassettes had reached the latter conclusion they couldn't help but feel insulted.

Arrow notched another magical arrow and fired at the school wall. As the arrow split into a dozen more and neared the wall, Rad's voice cried out, "Lock!" and the arrows all bounced off the wall and windows. Arrow had a vague look of annoyance on her face as she glared through the window at Rad.

He had to come out of that building sooner or later.


	16. Arrow's Catastrophe Part 2

Arrow's Catastrophe Part 2

Rad felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He didn't even need to look up to know that Arrow was glaring at him. "Looks like all I did was succeed in making her angry." he muttered.

Kero silently agreed as he heard more arrows bounce off against the wall and windows. "Really angry." he added.

Rad frowned as Lock retreated back to him. "Arrow's real tough too." he muttered knowing that now he'd have to go out and face the card. He grabbed the cards from the Clow Book and hoisted his pack over his shoulders as he ran out of the building, Kero hanging onto his shoulder.

Kero heard a notch and looked up to see that Arrow had moved to the library roof and was now aiming at them. "Run faster!"

Rad looked up just as she fired. "Jump!" Rad evaded the arrows with precious second to spare. He continued dodging the arrows but needed to gain a bit of distance between him and the card. "Create a distraction, Bubbles!" he struck down on the card and a ton of bubbles began to surround Arrow, creating a frothy distraction as the card tried to swat the bubbles away.

Rad leaned against the school building once he was sure that he'd gotten away from Arrow. Jump returned to its card form and returned to Rad as he breathed heavily. "That was close."

"Well she is and attack card." Kero said lamely.

Rad glared at him but before he could retort he heard a notch and looked up just as Arrow fired at them, looking severally annoyed. "Ah!" Rad yelled as he tried to dodge, but the concrete under his feet came up and sent him back against the wall. His head smacked on the wall as he slid down it, blacking out.

Kero floated down to Rad's head and his worry grew as he saw a blood smear on the wall. "Rad? Rad wake up!" he yelled shaking Rad on the shoulder rapidly.

In the shadows Frenzy had watched the events in surprise. On all the holograms 'Beaky had brought back the squishy had always seemed so capable., but it was clear to even him that this 'Arrow' would finish him off now that he was down for the count.

For some strange reason, the thought of this particular Fleshy offlining stirred up unknown feelings in his spark, but why did he even care? This squishy wasn't any different from any other human. Well, that wasn't exactly true, but still!

Though watching as Arrow notched her short bow and directly at Rad's prone form with a look of triumph made the feeling grow. So without much conscious thought, his hand reached for his gun and fired at Arrow, shooting that winged bow right out of her hands.

Arrow's face went from triumphant to shock as her bow landed a few feet away from her, Laserbeak also expressed his own shock on the matter. "What the slag are you doing?" he squeaked at Frenzy.

"Frag if I know." The cassette replied as he made his way over to Kero and Rad.

Kero looked over at him in surprise. "Who are you?"

"You don't need to know Plushy." Frenzy replied flippantly.

Kero's surprise turns to indignation. "Plushy?"

Frenzy ignored him as he picked Rad up with a gentleness that even surprised him. 'First; get the squishy awake, then find out why said squishy makes me act all Autobot-like.' he thought.

Rad's eyes clenched for a moment before he opened them blearily, the running movement rousing him awake. He saw he was being carried by a Decepticon and-Rad's eyes widened. "What the frag?"

The sudden yell made Frenzy lose his footing and fell, causing them to land on the ground with the teen on the bottom and the cassette on top. Both Kero and Laserbeak looked at them in shock, and even Arrow paused.

Frenzy gained his wits first and grinned down at Rad. "You didn't actually think that I forgot about our one minute did you?"

Rad's eyes went wide as he tried to push the cassette off of him. "Didn't I tell you before to frag off!"

The cassette stared at him while tilting his helm. "Wasn't that an invitation?" he asked. "Don't you know it's not nice to lead someone on like that? Especially a Decepticon."

Kero suddenly felt the need to intervene. "Hey! There's still Arrow to deal with!"

"The plushy's right." Frenzy stated and Rad looked momentarily relieved. Couldn't have that now. "We can frag after!"

Rad backed away as the cassette got off of him. "No way in hell! Windy, blow him away!" Rad threw a card in front of him and struck down on it.

A gale came from the card and blew Frenzy right off his pedes and was sent crashing into a wall. "That's the last time I save a squishy." he grumbled to himself. 'Even if it was fun messing with his head.'

Rad staggered to his feet and felt a slight stinging on his head, but ignored it. "Let's finish this Arrow!"

Arrow snapped out of her shock and fired at Rad. "Jump!" Wings appeared at his heels and he jumped out of the way. "Get her, Wood!" Rad struck down on the card and branches shot out of the ground and went for Arrow.

Arrow dodged most of the branches, but one branch wrapped around the bow and when Arrow tried to pull the bow, more branches converged on Arrow and she was dispatched quickly. Which was a relief for Rad seeing as he started to notice that his head was stinging.

Rad raised the staff above his head. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" Again a glowing shell card appeared at the beak of the staff as chimes sounded. Wispy strands of the white light from Arrow began to get sucked into the card until there was nothing of Arrow's presence left and the cards floated over to him.

Rad pocketed them and finally turned his attention to his head. "Ah!" he yelled as he saw the blood on his fingers when he pulled his hand away from his head. "What the!"

"You hit your pretty hard on the wall." Kero answered.

Rad pulled out Fly and his cell phone. "Aunt Raven cannot know about this." he muttered and dialed an unseen number before summoning Fly. He got the answering machine thankfully. "Hey Aunt Raven, it's Rad, just got a little got up with studying, should be back soon so you don't have to worry, bye!" he hung up the cell and hopped on Fly, though he wobbled a bit and Kero steadied him.

"Maybe you should call-" Kero began.

"No!" Rad snapped. "I will not stay here for another second!"

"What he said really freaked you out, didn't it?" Kero asked upon seeing Rad glance at the spot where the cassette had crashed and was now empty.

Rad didn't reply as he hopped into the air and took off, Kero hanging onto his shoulder.


	17. Sword Strike

"Rad, what happened?" Carly asked upon seeing the bandage that was wrapped around Rad's forehead.

"Oh, I, uh, was being clumsy and smacked the back of my head against a wall." Rad replied and moved his bangs over the bandages to try and make them less noticeable.

The previous night after catching Arrow, he'd gone to see First Aid, since he was sure the Protectobot kept human medical supplies at the ready as a just-in-case. When he'd arrived at their base with dissolved hair, dust-ridden clothes, and congealing blood running down his head and dripping onto the ground got him a very strange welcoming.

Since the Protectobots had a 'protect humans' programming, First Aid had hauled him away to where the human supplies was kept while the others fired off questions regarding Rad's current state of appearance.

"What happened to you?"

Why are you out so late?"

"Were you in a fight?"

"Yes." It had taken him a moment for Rad to realize he'd actually said that aloud.

* * *

Rad looked at the store Carly had stopped at. "Why are we here?" he asked.

"Spike's buying me a brooch, aren't you Spike?" Carly asked glaring at her boyfriend. Spike nodded.

Rad knew they probably had an argument and this was Spike's way of getting out of the doghouse, so he didn't say anything as they all went in. Rad immediately felt goosebumps creep along his skin as he looked over at the display case. Something was off.

"Here Carly; this one is nice." Spike said handing Carly a brooch he'd purchased.

Carly looked closely at the brooch. It looked like a little sword and it had a diamond-shaped tip and wing cutouts on the handle. She smiled in approval and placed it inside her pocket. "I'll wear it later." she looked over at her fellow blonde. "You buying anything Rad?"

Rad looked over the display case once again at the different brooches, but nothing really stuck out to him. "No." he shook his head. "Let's go."

* * *

The trio headed out of the store and back out into Carly's car and drove off to the Autobot's base. When they had arrived, Rad had excitedly ran to the surprisingly vacant, seeing as there were a few mechs and a few minibots, including-

"Blue!" Rad yelled.

Bluestreak broke off mid-rambling to the Twins when he looked down at Rad. "Rad-" he saw the bandage around Rad's forehead and gasped. "What happened to your head? Did you get hurt?"

"Yes, I got hurt, but it's nothing really; just a scratch." Rad said dismissively.

"Nothing much, huh?" Sideswipe repeated as he swirled the energon around in his cube. "Then why did Sunny and I overhear First Aid giving a report of your injury to Hatchet if it was just a scratch?"

"I'm not even going to ask how you managed to get that information, but I'm guessing that the minibots finally sent you to Ratchet for all the torment you cause them with your 'Toss the minibot' game." Rad explained.

"You mean you were the one who put that idea in their processors?" Sunstreaker questioned glaring at Rad.

"I might've made a slight suggestion." Rad answered. "Is it really my fault that all of you take my metaphorical sayings so seriously? Like the time I told you that I do shoot the messenger? Red Alert wouldn't let me into the Ark for a whole week." Rad groused.

Sideswipe chuckled. "Or the time you told Eject he'd beat you at 'Ping-Pong' when 'pigs fly'."

"And he spent all his shifts looking out for any reports of flying pigs." Sunstreaker finished.

"And he still hasn't beaten me." Rad smiled.

"RAD!" Carly yelled angrily from down the hall.

"Oh boy, wonder what I did this time." Rad joked as he headed out of the and down the hall. As soon as he stepped into the room, he barely had enough time to move out of the way as a slash of silver came at him. Carly was glaring at him with an enlarged version of the sword brooch she had. "What happened to her?" he yelled at Spike.

"I don't know, she just put on that brooch I gave her, and this happens!" Spike yelled distraught.

"Get out now!" Rad ordered as he pushed Spike out of the room. He summoned his Sealing Wand and pulled out a card. "Lock!" A light encased the walls and closed door before it died down. Rad whirled around and glared at the other blond. "What have you done to Carly?"

"Done to her?" Carly repeated in a slightly echoing voice, her eyes blank. "Why, I'm merely using a human pawn to kill you, that's all."

"Which card are you?" Rad demanded.

"I'm the Sword Card, Rad." The possessed girl replied. "And you're friend is under my control."

"Why Carly?" Rad muttered.

"Because she's your friend. And the fact is that you're exactly like our old master, Sakura." Sword said and Rad froze at the name of his predecessor. "You see, Sakura also couldn't bear to harm her friends, so I had possessed on of her friends to kill her. Only this time, if you refuse to fight me, I could always..." Sword made Carly place the blade to her throat.

"No!" Rad cried in horror.

Sword made Carly grin nastily. "Then fight me!" she said and slashed the sword in her hand at Rad.

Rad blocked the blade with his wand. 'I can't win.' Rad thought. 'If I fight back, I might hurt Carly, but if I don't, Sword will kill Carly. Talk about between a rock and a hard place.'

Rad continued to dodge strike's from Sword, his mind going a mile a minute on how to stop both Sword and Carly. He knew he had to separate Sword from his friend, but he just didn't know how to-'I'm such an idiot.'

Rad pulled out another card. "Restrain Sword, Wood!" he struck down on the card with his sealing wand and branches shot out of the metal floor around Carly, but she cut through them.

"Was that supposed to work?" she turned only to see Rad activating another card.

"Windy!" he yelled and a sudden gale blew Carly off her feet as branches grabbed a hold of Sword's hilt. She let go, but the suffocating wind caused her to pass out.

Rad sighed in relief and turned his attention to Sword. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!"

A shell card appeared, the sound of chimes rang out, and Sword began to dissipate until the branches were holding onto nothing.

Rad caught the Sword card as it floated over to him, along with the other cards he'd used before going to check on Carly.


	18. Issues and Minibots

"Hey bro, wanna go prank the Combaticons?"

"No thanks."

Rumble froze in his tracks. "Not thanks?" he repeated in disbelief. "What the slag's wrong with you? You haven't been acting right since we went to steal from that toy factory. Catch a virus or something?"

Frenzy frowned for a moment. "Or something." he said finally. He had considered telling his twin, but he'd either call him a squishy-lover or laugh at him. And really, neither outcome sounded too appealing.

But what the frag.

"I have a crush on that yellow male fleshling." On another note, he was grudging to admit he had figured out what exactly it was he was feeling whenever he saw the fleshy.

To his surprise, his twin didn't laugh or call him a fleshy-lover. Instead he just nodded in a totally un-Rumble-like fashion. "Yeah, I already knew that."

"You already knew? How the slag did you know before even I figured it out?" Frenzy snapped.

"We're twins, you bolt for brains." Rumble jeered. "I feel what you feel, and I felt how excited you got when you saw the footage of him that 'Beaky brought back."

"Weren't you shocked? Disgusted? Weirded out?" Frenzy questioned.

"All that slag and more." Rumble nodded. "But I knew you wouldn't have a chance with him if he's with an Autobot."

"How the slag did you know that?" Frenzy growled.

"I overheard your mini tantrum over the bond the other mega-cycle." Rumble replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Have you told anyone about this?" Frenzy asked suspiciously.

"You mean have I told the boss about your sick little fantasy?" Rumble shook his head. "No, I haven't."

"Fantasy?" Frenzy repeated, optic band brightening slightly.

Rumble nodded. "Yeah, fantasy, since it will, as the saying goes, snow in July before that fleshy even considers you over his Autobot."

Frenzy didn't reply as he glared down at his pedes, his mouth set in a harsh line. The words stung seeing as even his own twin pretty much believed that he didn't have a chance with Rad. It was probably true as Rad pretty much hated him and any advance he made was met with one pit of a negative reaction.

Or it was because of his relation to his Autobot.

* * *

"I'm going to take Carly home now." Spike said as he helped Carly into the passenger seat of her car.

"Okay, I hope you feel alright." Rad said sympathetically. 'Since I don't know how being possessed by the cards affect one's health.' he thought.

"Are you sure you can find a ride of your own home?" Carly asked rubbing her temples to soothe her headache.

"Not to be rude, but I'm pretty sure I can find a ride home in a base of robots who can change into cars." Rad said softly.

"You're right." Carly said in agreement.

Rad waved them off before sighing to himself. 'Poor Carly, she didn't deserve to get possessed by Sword.' he thought. He traveled down the hall and came across a small group of chatting Minibots; Bumblebee, Windcharger and Cliffjumper. "Hey guys." he greeted them amiably, like he always did when he saw them.

"Hello Rad." Bumblebee greeted back smiling. The only who said anything to him while the other two Minibots ignored him and continued chatting.

Rad frowned and looked up at Bumblebee. "What's their problem?"

"You want to know what the problem is?" Cliffjumper snapped, no longer trying to pretend Rad wasn't there. "You've been completely ignoring us for Bluestreak."

"What does he have that we don't? Besides average height." Windcharger said the last part dejectedly.

"Or have a vocalizer that doesn't shut up." Cliffjumper jeered. Both Rad and Bumblebee gave him a reproachful look.

"Don't tell me you're actually jealous." Rad said in disbelief.

Cliffjumper huffed and crossed his arms. "Jealous of Bluestreak? No. Jealous of how much time he spends with you?" he frowned sourly. "Maybe."

Rad shook his head. "Don't be." he said assuring. "How 'bout I spend some time with you all right now?"

"You're just trying to distract us." Windcharger murmured.

Rad smiled pleasantly. "Is it working?"

The three Minibots shared a look. "A little." Bumblebee answered.

"Hey, did you get hurt?" Windcharger asked indicating the bandage wrapped around Rad's forehead.

'Now he notices?' Rad thought exasperated. "Got it in a...fight." It was sort of true.

"Did you win?" Cliffjumper asked smirking.

Rad snorted. "Against a cassette? No way. I'm lucky that this is the only injury I got before getting away. After all, I'm flighty, not suicidal." he suddenly froze when he realized what he'd just said.

"A cassette attacked you?" Bumblebee asked horrified.

"Tell me which one it was and I'll blast the little slagger all the way back to the fraggin' Pit!" Cliffjumper yelled angrily.

"Have you told the higher ups about this?" Windcharger asked.

Rad shook his head. "There's no reason to bother them with this. After all, it was probably just a random thing." He sure hoped it was anyway. He gave them a shaky smile. "Now, how 'bout I teach you how to play Hacky Sack?"

As Rad lead them into a more open space, he failed to notice a security camera in the hall.


	19. Thunderstruck

"Why did you want me to bring you here?" Bluestreak asked as he parked in a clearing surrounded by tall trees that provided adequate cover.

"It was Kero's idea." Rad said and looked at the yellow plushy perched on his shoulder. "Why are we out here?"

"It is time to hone your magic, and what better way than to practice? Now call your Sealing Wand." Kero instructed.

Rad nodded and took the Key off the string around his neck as Kero floated off his shoulder. "The Key which hides the power of the dark, show your true power before me, I, Rad, command you, under our contract, Release!" The key elongated to its orange staff form and took the Clow Book out of his bag. "Hmm, now which one should I use first?" His eyes centered on one of the newer ones. "Bubbles?"

"Bubbles," Kero began with some trepidation, "is the card Clow created to clean all sorts of things, including me." he muttered the last bit.

Rad looked between Kero and Bluestreak before smiling. "Clean Kero, and Bluestreak, Bubbles!" he commanded as he hit the card with the beak of the staff.

A mass of pink bubbles emerged from the card and surrounded both Bluestreak, and Kero, who both became covered in a frothy mass. As soon as the Autobot and Guardian were no longer visible, Rad took a look at two newest cards-Sword and Arrow. Rad made a slight face seeing as he had captured them under undesirable conditions. Sword when it was possessing Carly, and Arrow with Frenzy being forward and creepy.

'Was he trying to totally creep me out?' he thought shuddering. He might not have gone off on a lot of adventures with the Autobots like Spike and Carly, but he knew enough that if any Decepticon showed interest in anything, it was generally not a good thing.

Rad was broken from his brooding thoughts by Bubbles returning to him in her card form. He looked over at the duo to see Kero's fur all shiny and luxurious, and Bluestreak looking like he just got off the assembly line. "Wow, you look great!"

"Thank you." Both Bluestreak and Kero said in unison. Rad decided not to point out that he was talking about Bluestreak.

Rad would have continued to practice in the clearing longer before wanting to head home, thought his plan detoured when Optimus' voice came through Bluestreak's speaker.

"Bluestreak, there's a Decepticon raid at a power plant near your location; we are in route."

"Understood sir." Bluestreak replied and addressed the blond. "Rad-"

"I'm going with you." Rad interrupted adamantly. "Besides, I might as well practice on the 'Cons, right?" he shrugged and both he and Kero got into the front seat.

* * *

"Make sure to stay out of sight if you're going to use magic." Bluestreak said as Rad, and Kero got out of his alt-mode before transforming.

Rad patted Bluestreak's leg fondly for a moment. "Good luck, and be careful." he said before running off, his orange staff and Kero in hand.

Rad suddenly froze and Kero looked around hurriedly as they were both hit with the presence of a Clow Card; it was like every fiber of his being was given small shocks. He cringed at the unusual feeling.

"Hello Squishy." Rad froze again, this time for a different reason. He looked up slowly at the purple cassette who was grinning at him unpleasantly. "You don't look as tough as you do on camera."

"What are you talking about?" Momentarily, Rad's fear of the Clow Card and Cassette were overridden by curiosity.

"Nothing fleshy!" Rumble snapped and smirked at the fear that appeared in Rad's eyes, but by the way Rad was glancing around showed that Rad's fear wasn't directed mainly at him. "So it seems my bro's got ya jump, huh?"

Rad drew his courage and sneered at him. "I'm not interested in him!"

"Yeah, can't see what my bro finds so...likeable, in you." Rumble muttered.

"As if I care!" Rad snapped.

A sudden bolt of whitish-blue energy zapped out at Rad. Rad hissed as he held his arm and looked over to see a bolt zipping away. "Get back here!" he yelled and ran after it, completely forgetting about the Cassette standing there.

Rumble casually opened a communications channel to Soundwave. "Boss, that Rad fleshy is here, and he's chasin' after some energy thing."

"Acknowledged."

* * *

Rad barely looked at Kero as he ran after the energy bolt. "Kero, what card is this?"

"It's the Thunder Card." Kero answered. "You need to contain somehow, but don't touch it or you'll get electrocuted."

Rad blanched. "Of course I'm not going to grab it!" he yelled.

"Better catch it before any of these robots see it. It's bad enough that the purple robot saw Thunder and that red one saw Arrow when he saved you from her." Kero replied.

'A Decepticon saved me?' Rad repeated in his head.

Thunder must've grown tired of playing Cat and Mouse because it sent one final bolt of energy at Rad before turning into a wolf-like creature made of crackling white-blue energy. It let out a howl and lunged at him.

Rad thought fast and pulled out a card. "Jump!" he called and dodged Thunder. "That was too close for comfort."

"Looks like you could use some help." A familiar metallic male voice said.

Rad's face showed a momentary smile as he looked over at a gray and blue 'Bot. "Bluestreak! Shouldn't you be fighting the 'Cons?"

"They took off for some reason, but who really gets why they do anything. So what do you need to contain this thing?"

Rad bit his lip as he looked around around for something to help with capturing Thunder. His blue eyes locked onto a pile of cables not too far away. "Those cables, I could use them to detain Thunder."

"Rad, if you touch those cables while they're attached to Thunder, you'll get electrocuted." Kero reminded him.

Rad winced with a frown. "Oh, yeah, forgot about that."

"Let me do it." Bluestreak offered. Rad stared at him in disbelief. "I can physically detain Thunder, and you can seal it."

"What if you get hurt?" Rad asked worriedly.

"Nothing Ratchet can't fix." Bluestreak said optimistically.

Rad reluctantly nodded. "Alright."

Bluestreak took that moment to charge at the card, pinning it to the ground, which was surprisingly hard seeing as Thunder was at least half his height and continuously letting out energy zaps, making the gunner wince. Rad also winced, thought it was more from guilt than anything else.

"Now Rad!" Bluestreak shouted once he'd gotten the card securely pinned.

Rad nodded and lifted the staff. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" he struck down on it mid-way and a glowing shell card appeared at the beak as chimes rang. Thunder let out a howl as it dissolved and was sucked into the card. Once the sealing was done, the card went to Bluestreak instead of Rad. "Okay...what just happened?" he asked confused.

Kero snapped his stubby fingers. "Even though you sealed it Rad, Bluestreak was the one who actually subdued it; that's how the cards choose their masters." he explained.

"But I thought you said Cybertronians didn't have magic?" Bluestreak asked in confusion.

"I never said you couldn't get them though. You just won't be able to use them with the risk of releasing them again." Kero said. "Except for a certain few; like how Rad told me that Sword possessed Carly."

"Well I certainly don't want anything like that to happen." Bluestreak said and held the card out to Rad. "With you is where the cards rightfully belong." he said sincerely.

Rad accepted the card blushing. "Thanks Blue."

Kero nodded in approval. "And I couldn't agree with you more Bluestreak. With Rad is where the cards rightfully belong."


	20. Erasing Catharsis Part 1

Rad whirled around and glared at the other blond. **"What have you done to Carly?"**

 **"Done to her?"** Carly repeated in a slightly echoing voice, her eyes blank. **"Why, I'm merely a Clow Card using a human pawn to kill you, that's all."**

 **"Which card are you?"** Rad asked glaring at her.

 **"I'm the Sword Card, Raddy."** The possessed girl replied and Rad glared at her. **"And your friend is under my control."**

 **"Why Carly?"** Rad muttered.

 **"Because you're exactly like our old master; Sakura." Sword said through Carly and the blond froze. "You see; Sakura also couldn't bear to hurt her friends, so I possessed on of her friends to kill her. Only this time, if you refuse to fight me, I could always..."** Sword made Carly place the blade to her throat.

 **"No!"** Rad yelled in horror.

Sword made Carly grin nastily. **"Then fight me!"** she said before slashing at Rad, who blocked with the Sealing Wand.

'So these cards can possess humans? Interesting.' Megatron stored that bit of information away.

The other Decepticons watched the hologram intently as the girl and Rad clashed sword and wand.

'I never knew he had such skill.' Frenzy thought with respect bordering on admiration. He'd never think that about a fleshy, but those accursed feelings in his sparks made him act all soft for the human. He guessed he had what was called a 'soft spot' for him.

'Stop being all gushy over the Glowy Fleshy!' Rumble snapped over the bond. 'Just frag the human and get it out of your systems; annoying gunner or not.'

Rad had started to be called 'Glowy Fleshy' after they had all seen the white glow Rad seemed to emit when they saw his encounter with Arrow (Laserbeak having censored the part where revealed himself to save Rad).

When 'Beaky had finally told him the name of the Autobot Rad was involved with, he felt laughing in disbelief or smashing something in anger. Rad was with that gunner? He must have the patience of Prime to put up with Bluestreak's incessant chatter!

The hologram showed Rad still dodging and he pulled out a card. **"Restrain Sword, Wood!"** he struck down on the card and branches shot put of the metal floor around Carly, but she cut through them all.

 **"Was that supposed to work?"** she turned and saw Rad activating another card.

"Windy!" he yelled as a sudden gale blew Carly off her feet as more branches wrapped around Sword. She let go, but the suffocating wind made her pass out.

Rad sighed in relief and turned his attention to Sword, who was trying to escape. He lifted the staff above his head. **"Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!"** his swing stopped mid-way and chimes sounded as a glowing shell card appeared and Sword was sucked inside of it. The blond caught the card and went to check on the girl as Laserbeak turned the hologram off.

As everyone dispersed and headed for their quarters for the night, no one noticed a grayish fog back beginning to form.

* * *

It was hardly suspicious when several mechs didn't show up for their morning energon. Though what did raise the suspicion was the silence. Usually the loud mouths and roughousers were making a scene, but it was quiet. The only sound being the sipping of energon.

It was a novel experience.

It was also completely unbearable. Frenzy felt like smashing something just to get things back to normal. He looked around and found that all the usual roughouser weren't present. The Combaticons were missing Vortex and Brawl. The Stunticons were missing Wildrider and Drag Strip. And even Thundercracker was sitting by his lonesome because Starscream and Skywarp were missing.

The overbearing silence was finally shattered when Ravage came bounding in looking actually alarmed. "What's up Rav?" Frenzy asked.

Ravage ignored him and spoke to Soundwave. "Another energy spike has revealed itself!"

"Energy spikes: common." Soundwave replied. "Explain agitation."

"It's in the base!" Ravage replied. That got everyone's attention.

Not once since those cards started causing trouble did any of them enter their base. The closest call had been the possibility that Watery could've gotten in if she had found them. The thought still made them a bit edgy about the remaining cards.

"Think that the organic is really he-" Frenzy broke off mid-sentence as his faceplate scrunched up. He looked at the twin bond and found there was no other side of it! "Rumble's gone." he said in an oddly detached manner.

Soundwave immediately checked into the bond he had with his creations and found out not only was Rumble missing, but also Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were to. It wasn't as if they were blocked off, it was like something had literally removed them to make it seem like they never existed in the first place. His visor darkened a shade and he abruptly stood and exited the mess hall.

There was no other option here. These Clow Cards could not affected by technology, and it seemed the only way to get rid of them was by that strange orange stick that the blond boy had. And for him (and them) to be rid of the card, he would have to be brought here.

* * *

Rad had an inkling of foreboding shadowing over his head. Even the boring chore of lawn mowing couldn't keep the feeling of dread off him. His ears picked up other more powerful engines over the lawn mowers, but he shrugged it off.

It wasn't until he looked up at the sky did the dread he'd been feeling make any sense. In the air were three jets of red, white, and blue.

'Maybe they'll pass over?' he thought, but was sorely disappointed when the three jets transformed.

The white one-he was fairly certain that this one was called Ramjet-was the only one that flew down to him, the other two apparently playing lookout. Rad was glared at until he turned the lawn mower off. "You have two options fleshy; you either come with us willingly, or I'll blow your home to pieces with anyone in it and still take you."

Rad's mind reeled with shock at the blunt command. Thought it was the 'blow your house to pieces with anyone in it' that made up his mind. "I'll go."


	21. Erasing Catharsis Part 2

Rad knew he should be freaking out. After all he'd just been captured by the Decepticons. Or was it really capture when he's gone willingly? But the point was, after spending so much time around the Clow Cards that the Decepticons seemed ordinary compared to the sheer ferocity the cards could enable to happen. He didn't want to think of Arrow because of how Frenzy had actually saved him.

Maybe Kero was messing with him when he said that?

He barely registered being taken out of the cockpit he'd been in, or the glared the Coneheads were shooting him. No, what he noticed was the walls of all things. 'Why can't these walls be the Autobot orange I'm so used to seeing? Orange is awesome after all.' he thought pleasantly. 'Wow, I really am crazy.'

He was only brought out of his thoughts when he felt a new grip on him by the back of his shirt. He looked up and tried not to flinch as he came face to face with Megatron. "Do you know why you're here, fleshling?"

'There's a reason?' Rad thought, but didn't dare to say it aloud. "Um, no?"

"The reason you're here is because one of your Clow Cards is making my troops disappear." Megatron growled, not liking the fact they had to rely on a fleshling to get rid of the card.

Rad's eyes widened. 'They know about the cards?' he thought. Still, while he may not be a fan of the 'Cons, moral obligation won out. "When do I start?"

He felt himself being put roughly on the floor. "You even try and escape, it will be very unpleasant. Now follow Soundwave."

Rad looked up at the blue cassette player and felt his face drain of color. "Frenzy." he muttered. The mech seemed to ignore the fact the boy spoke and led him out, Rad following along silently.

Now while Soundwave didn't like the fact they had to rely on this boy either; it was the logical decision. As the yellow plush organic had said; it was Rad who opened the book in the first place, so he had to clean up the mess he caused. It was also an inevitability that one of the cards would find its way onboard.

Rad meanwhile was looking around the hall in boredom. 'No wonder everyone here is so moody if this is the color they have to look at constantly.' he thought and was pulled from his thoughts by a metallic growl at the distinct hiss of a door sliding open.

"What is he doing here?" Ravage growled.

"Fleshling: solution to problem." Soundwave said. He saw that Rad had begun to fidget and he was sure it was because of the way Frenzy was staring at the teen, but then again, Ratbat was also staring at the teen, thought it seemed to be more out of curiosity.

"How is he going to help us?" he chirped tilting his head.

"He's the one who's been capturin' all those organics that have been showing up everywhere." Frenzy explained without looking away from Rad. "He's the one with the powers."

"Oh! The Glowy Fleshy" Ratbat chirped in recognition.

'Glowy Fleshy?' Rad thought looking surprised at the name. 'Why do they call me that?' Thinking he was better off not knowing the answer, he decided to get right down to business. "You're probably aware of what this is, right?" he asked taking his key off its string and received nods. "Good." he muttered and held it out in front of him. "The key which hides the power of the dark, show your true power before me, I, Rad, command you, under our contract, Release!" There was a flash of bright white light and the key elongated into its orange staff form.

There was a stunned silence before Ratbat began to chirp loudly.

"Do that again! Do that again!"

Rad grimaced with a sweat drop. "Um, not now." he said distractedly. "So, I'm going card hunting now."

"Frenzy: Guard and escort."

Rad paled even more than before.

* * *

"Wow, this is disturbing." Rad said staring at the thing in front of him in the closet he'd opened.

Frenzy snickered and stored it to memory for blackmail material. "Are you kidding? This is gold!"

What they were looking at was a transformers-sized shrine dedicated to Madonna. Complete with every album she'd ever made.

Rad blinked when he found the absurd logic behind it all. "Well, he does have a king-sized ego and she is technically the queen of pop music." he mused shaking his head and closed the closet door. "Who da thought that a Decepticon could legitimately like a human?" he noticed it got very quiet at that.

"So only Autobots can like humans huh?" Rad looked over to see Frenzy actually glaring at him.

Rad frowned upon remembering his issues with this particular cassette. "Well, this sort of disproves that. 'Sides, it's not like you actually like me."

Frenzy frowned. He shouldn't say it, not now or ever, but he needed to get it over and done with. "Actually, I do like you."

Rad stared at him in shocked disbelief.


	22. Erasing Catharsis Part 3

Raven had watched Rad get taken away, but she knew he'd be just fine, if not shaken up. Though in her dream she also saw herself telling Bluestreak that the Decepticons had taken Rad. Rad had no idea that she already knew about the Clow Cards and about Kero. After all, she had been the one to put the Clow Book in his dresser for him to find it when he had arrived.

Raven was surprised Rad hadn't called her out on why she seem to lax about him being late or why she always seem to give him cryptic messages. Like how she told him to put Bluestreak on speed dial? Or to be careful at the toy factory?

She resolved to show him the original tapes of her and Rad's father's grandmother capturing the cards and telling him the whole family history of their family when he got back.

Raven saw a blue and gray Datsun pull up in the driveway and she walked out. 'Right on time.' she thought. "Hello Bluestreak."

"Hello Aunt Raven." Bluestreak greeted. The blonde woman didn't really mind being called that by Rad's mech-friend, she had stopped trying to get him to call her just Raven after a while. "Do you know if Rad's home? I tried to call him, but he didn't answer."

Raven had to put on her best distraught face, which was hard when she already knew that Rad would come back safely. "Rad's gone I'm afraid."

"Gone? What do you mean by gone?" Bluestreak questioned hurriedly.

"These three jets with cone heads came and the white one came down and told Rad that he'd kill me if he didn't go with him." Raven explained. Even though the actual threat had been stated that he'd blow up the house, it was implied that it would kill her though.

Bluestreak was silent for a complete minute. "Decepticons took Rad?" he asked in disbelief. "Excuse me Aunt Raven, but I have to go!"

Raven watched the Datsun leave and the dust cloud he created from going too fast.

* * *

"I'm sorry, but I could've sworn you just said that you liked me." Rad repeated.

"I did say that." Frenzy said annoyed. "At first it was just to mess with your head, but then I started to actually wanna do those things with you. Don't look at me like that!" he snapped at seeing Rad's disgusted expression. "I know you suck faceplate with that annoyin' gunner, so you don't have a problem with metal."

"It's not that." Rad said quietly. "It's that you think telling me this is going to make me like you back. Besides, I'm already in a relationship." he let out a frustrated sigh and turned into the direction of the door. "I don't have time for this, I have a spirit to catch."

Frenzy clenched his fists, the sting of hurt and rejection being replaced by the more familiar feelings of hate and anger. The mention of the card reminded him why his twin was gone. In fact, most of his recent problems could be blamed on one source.

With a yell, he tackled Rad to the ground, knocking the wand out of his hands and wrapped his hands around Rad's throat, fully intent on choking the life out of the blond. "This whole mess is all your fault. I never should have sav-" he stopped suddenly and the grip on Rad's neck slackened.

Rad, whose eyes had been closed shut, opened them and saw Ravage standing at arm's length. 'When'd he get here?'

"Have you been following us, Rav?" Frenzy asked like he wasn't choking Rad a moment ago.

Ravage growled. "Soundwave was right to send me to follow you both. It is obvious you can't be trusted to be alone with the fleshy."

"It's all his fault though!" Rad felt the hands tighten around his neck.

"Desist and release him Frenzy." Ravage ordered. "It is irrelevant if it is his fault, we need him alive so he can fix this mess." In a more snide tone he added. "And you really wouldn't kill your crush would you?"

Both Frenzy and Rad scowled at that. Frenzy moved his hands from Rad's throat to the side of his face to turn it toward him and leaned down close. "You still owe me for savin' your life." he muttered and closed the space between them. Ravage offlined his optics so he wouldn't have the image burned into his processor.

For Rad, the second the cassette's lip components had touched his, he felt his insides froze. He remained unresponsive as possible since he didn't want to feel like he'd betrayed Bluestreak more than he already had by letting Frenzy kiss him in the first place. Rad felt something slip between his lips and realized with disbelief that it was his glossa. His first instinct was to bite down on it, but he didn't know what repercussions it would have.

He felt his chest tighten and start to burn. 'Can't breathe!' he thought and tried to turn his face and use his arms to try and push the cassette off him. Frenzy only then seemed to remember that organics needed to breath to live and got off. Rad quickly backed away from him and grabbed his wand and looked over at Ravage. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather get this spirit then get the hell out of here."

"Yes, your very presence is disturbing and an illogical distraction." Ravage conceded and Rad had the feeling there was a deeper meaning in those words.

Though, again, he felt he was better off not knowing.

* * *

Red optics stared contemptuously at the red and blue mech on the screen. "Prime, what do you want?"

"I believe your conehead seekers took something-or rather someone- that isn't theirs." Optimus replied evenly.

Megatron raised an optic ridge. "Oh? And what did they take?" he knew perfectly well what Prime was talking about, but he wanted to know how much the boy meant to them.

"They took Rad from his home." Optimus said.

"Ah, the yellow fleshling boy. My Coneheads may have seized him, but I can't really be sure." Megatron retorted.

Optimus sighed; he'd been through this song and dance before. "What do you want in exchange for the safe return of Rad?"

"That Prime, depends on entirely on whether or not the organic does an adequate job. Who knows, we may just keep him if he finishes and this happens again." Megatron said.

Little did he know that these words were having an adverse effect on Prime and making him think something was happening to Rad. Oblivious to these thoughts, Megatron kept talking. "After all, he is rather entertaining."

Optimus' helm snapped up at that. "Name what you want, just return him."

He had no idea what harmful fate Rad might be going through at this very moment.

* * *

"Let me go! Let me go!" Rad cried trying to squirm out of the bat cassette's hold.

"First Laserbeak and Buzzsaw disappeared, then Rumble, and now Creator!" Ratbat wailed as bear hug on Rad tightened a bit.

Rad looked over the wailing cassette to look at the cyber panther. "What with him?"

Ravage, who was torn between looking amused and disgusted by the youngest cassettes actions, said, "Ratbat is rather affected by death that has no involvement in battle. That's the reason we can never watch videos."

Rad sighed as the bat's wails got louder at that. "Um, they're not dead, you know."

Ratbat quieted down as he looked at Rad with watery optics. "They're not? But I can't feel them through the bond!"

"Um, like you said, they just disappeared. When I capture the card, they'll turn up, and besides," he grimaced, "it's just me the cards try to kill. Since I am the only one who can catch them." he explained.

Ratbat looked at him and contemplated his words. Disregarding the 'squishes are disgusting' bit, he buried his faceplate into the blonde's chest. "Maybe after you catch the card and bring Creator back, I can convince him to let me keep you."

Rad tried not to pale at his words. "Why would you want me here? You all hate humans!"

Ratbat gave him a look as if he were particularly slow. "Why wouldn't I? You're the most unique human I've ever seen, and Frenzy's in love with you!"

"I am not!" Frenzy snapped, though his faceplate had heated up.

Rad flushed. "Well, I can't stay. I mean, there are still more cards, and I'm already in a relationship with Bluestreak."

Ratbat made a face. "You like him? Why?"

Rad's eyes gained a flat look in them. "That, is none of your business." he said neutrally.

* * *

Rad was very much aware of the remaining cassettes optics on him as he concentrated on finding the card. He had his eyes closed in meditation to feel the magical presence and his eyes snapped open. "Got you!" he hissed as he sprinted after the magical signature, the cassettes following.

They soon came upon a grayish fog bank and Rad lifted his staff above his head. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" he struck down on the glowing shell card that appeared and the fog was sucked into the card like a vacuum. Rad glared at the card as it landed in his hand. "You caused me a lot of trouble!"

He was pulled from his thoughts as Ratbat all but tackled him in a hug. "I can feel Creator through the bond again!" he shouted.

"See, I told you they would all come back." Rad said patting the cassette on the back.

Frenzy frowned at the interaction between his youngest brother and secret (though not-so-secret-as-he-thought) crush. "Now why can't he accept anything I give him like that?" he grumbled to himself.

"Because your 'anything' centers around interfacing and he doesn't like you." Ravage said abruptly.

Frenzy shot the cyber panther an annoyed glare. "Since when has consent ever mattered to a 'Con?"

"If that were true, you would have already gone through with it." Ravage shot back. "Admit it, you want him to want it."

Their conversation was cut short as Ratbat gathered up Rad in his arms and took off to find their Creator.


	23. Come What May

"Ratbat: Release."

"No. he's mine!" Ratbat retorted and hugged Rad more tightly to him. Rad though felt like he was about to be crushed with overbearing affection.

"Ratbat: Release." Soundwave's tone became more demanding.

"He's right, let me go!" Rad yelled and felt the grip on him slacken, and he risked looking down into a pair of watery optics.

"You don't want to stay?"

Rad suddenly hated the puppy-dog eyes. 'Not really.' But he knew if he said that, the result would be less than pleasing. "Err. No one really wants me here. Frenzy even tried to kill me!"

"That was your own fault!" Frenzy retorted.

"How was any of that my fault?" Rad didn't even want to think about that. He managed to wrench himself out of Ratbat's grasp and pulled a card out of his pocket. He constantly kept Fly on his person in case he needed to get away, but unfortunately, he couldn't have gotten out of the Nemesis without being crushed by water pressure or drowning. At this time it was fortunate that he was not on the Nemesis but somewhere in the desert. Now he only had to outrun, err, outfly these Decepticreeps.

"I'm out of here!"

Though before he could fly away, he felt himself being picked up by the back of his shirt in another grip. This one being a giant hand. "Not so fast."

"What? I thought you wanted me gone!" Rad yelled as he struggled in the Decepticon leader's grasp.

He was ignored though and Rad finally heard the roar of approaching engines and saw a blue and red semi with a trailer, a blue and gray Datsun, and a red and white ambulance coming toward them. 'Of course they'd trade me with something, most likely energon.'

The three Autobots transformed and Optimus stepped forward, gesturing to his trailer. "We have the energon you demanded, now release Rad."

Megatron placed Rad on the ground. "Should any more of your cards show up in our base, expect us to show up." He said low enough that only Rad heard him. "Now move it fleshling." He added in a louder voice.

Rad didn't need to be told twice as he practically ran over to Bluestreak, only for First Aid to scoop him up. "Hey!"

"This is for your own good." First Aid replied running a scan over Rad for any signs of injury or damage. When his scan came to his neck and mouth, it showed signs of bruising beginning to form, but decided not to comment on it, only saying, "We are going to have a talk once we get back to the Ark."

Rad didn't reply, just nodded and glanced at Bluestreak guiltily.

* * *

The trip back to the Ark had been in silence with none of them wanting to ask how Rad was treated on the Nemesis; they were worried he might actually tell them. Rad was sitting in Bluestreak's cabin, listening to the radio station Blue had chosen. The song brought a sad, sweet smile to Rad's face as he heard it.

 _"Never knew I could feel like this,_

 _Like I've never seen the sky before,_

 _Want to vanish inside your kiss,_

 _Every day I love you more and more,_

 _Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing?_

 _Telling me to give you everything,_

 _Seasons may change; winter to spring,_

 _But I will love you until the end of time,_

 _Come what may,_

 _Come what may,_

 _I will love you until my dying day…"_

"Love you, Rad." The tone was low enough that only Rad would hear it.

Rad leaned down so it looked like he was just resting against the passenger door, his voice equally low so only the Datsun could hear. "I love you too, Bluestreak."

* * *

"Now, do I need to ask why you're?" First Aid questioned gently as he looked down at the blond sitting on the counter in the Med Bay.

Rad bit his lip. "Um, someone there tried to kill me?" he asked faintly.

'Aid wasn't fooled for a second. "Rad. When I scanned you for injuries, I found that your neck had shown signs of bruising, and your lips also." He gestured to his own neck. "And I can already see that the red marks around your neck are in the form of handprints."

Rad cringed as he felt his neck, flinching from the pain. "It's already bruising?" he asked hoarsely.

"Yes, now I can only think of two Decepticons who could have done that to you." First Aid said firmly. "Now who was it?"

Rad looked away for moment, severely thinking of lying, but he'd feel guiltier than he already felt since 'Aid was just trying to talk to him. And the mech did clean up his head. "It was Frenzy. He told me that he liked me, but I rejected him and then he tried to kill me." He whispered. "He probably would've if Ravage hadn't shown up." He heard a low thudding sound, like something coming in contact with a wall. "What was that?"

"Hmm, I don't know." First Aid said absently, but honestly as he mulled over what Rad had said. "Rad, did you have any idea that Frenzy liked you beforehand?" Rad shook his head. "Do you know when this might've started?"

"I can't be sure, but it would have probably happened when we were trapped in a factory room together. He had chased me down to get my cell phone, but we go stuck in the room. He spent most of the time trying to get out, but nothing worked really. Then another time he actually saved me before saying that we should finish what he said to me in the factory."

"Which was?" First Aid prompted.

Rad gulped and fidgeted under his gaze. "That he's never interfaced with a human before." He whispered.

There was another thud.

"And after I got away from him, he gave a clear intent to finish if we met again." Rad added quietly.

First Aid had a sudden revelation. "When you showed up at the Protectobot base, covered in dirt and your head covered with blood, was that when this happened?" Rad nodded. "And did h say anything when you were on the Nemesis?"

Rad bit his lip again. "Yeah, he admitted that he did those things to originally mess with my head, but then he said he actually wanted to do those things to me. After I rejected him, and Ravage stopped him from killing me, he…kissed me." He murmured. "He said I owed him for saving my life." He added.

This time there was a louder thud.

"Rad, until we can be certain that Frenzy won't come after you, would you object to having to having an Autobot guardian?" First Aid asked kindly. He knew he shouldn't have offered this since it wasn't his place, but he was certain this was the right thing to do.

Rad's first response would have been no, but he didn't want to be ungrateful. They might choose Blue after all. "Sure."

First Aid nodded. "Will you excuse me for moment then?" Rad nodded again and the medic went into the room at the back where the Autobot leader, his mentor, the SIC, and the TIC were. "What do you think?"

"It was a good idea to have him talk with you; he probably wouldn't have said anything at all if had been me in there, he would've just cowered." Ratchet said morosely.

"That's because he's scared of ya." Jazz said softly, looking rather chastised.

"By the way, he heard some thudding sound, who was that?" First Aid asked looking at the three dents in the wall.

"Jazz, he lost his temper when Rad mentioned what Frenzy had tried to do and did to him." Prowl answered.

Jazz shook his helm. "That ain't right. He's barely a youngling, still practically considered a sparklin'."

"It seems trying to keep our youngest friend out of the conflict had backfired on us." Optimus sighed. "But I believe First Aid has made a wise suggestion for Rad to have a guardian."

"But who'd volunteer to do it?" Ratchet questioned.

"This will also mean we will have to tell the crew about this so as to keep on optic out for when Rad comes here." Prowl added quietly.

"Rad's not going to like this." First Aid murmured before going back into the main part of the Med Bay to tell Rad the decision.

* * *

Rad had not liked the fact they had to tell the whole crew about his shame, but he certainly didn't want to be alone should Frenzy show up and he didn't have his Clow Cards with him. So he agreed to it, and stayed hidden in 'Aid's palms as he waited with bated breath and peeked out to look at their expressions.

It was deathly quiet and he didn't want to face them all, so that's why he was hiding. He had of course expected to see some disgusted expressions, but none of it was directed at him surprisingly. His blue eyes found Bluestreak standing stock still, a horrified look in his optics.

Rad quietly rapped his knuckles on First Aid's palm. "Please get me out of here." He pleaded.

First Aid silently complied and the blue and gray gunner saw a flash of gold in the medic's hands as he left.

Bluestreak stepped forward. "May I be excused, sir?" When Optimus nodded, he left and followed after the medic and found him and Rad sitting at the empty table in the rec. room. "Rad?"

Rad looked up startled, his white jacket's high collar done up all the way to hide the hand print marks around his throat. "Blue." He acknowledged.

"First Aid, may I speak with Rad alone?" Bluestreak asked.

"I don't think that is such a good idea." First Aid said in an uncertain tone.

Rad placed his hand on 'Aid's leg plating. "It's okay, 'Aid, I'll be just fine with Blue here."

First Aid didn't miss the slight affectionate tone in Rad's voice as he said Bluestreak's nickname, but wisely didn't comment. "Okay, Rad."

Once the medic was gone, Bluestreak was beside Rad in a flash. "Why didn't you tell me about Frenzy? Didn't you trust me?" he asked softly.

Rad looked at him painfully. "I do trust you, I just didn't know what you'd think of me if I told you." He replied.

"I could've protected you." Bluestreak replied quietly.

Rad frowned as he looked down at his shoes. "You can't all the time, you're not my guardian, you're my mech-friend; I just expect you to be there when I need you." He explained. "I don't need to be coddled.'Sides, you couldn't have stopped this, I had to deal with a Clow card."

"A Clow card got onto the Nemesis?" Bluestreak asked with surprised.

Rad nodded. "Why do you think they kidnapped me? I'm not sure how, but they somehow found out about the Clow cards."

"…so, which one was it?"

Rad reached into his blazer pocket and pulled out a card with the image of a lady in a jester-like checkered outfit wearing a very long pointed hat and holding a cloth like a magician would. "She's called Erase. The name is pretty self-explanatory." He snorted. "If I wasn't so unsure it would work, I would've erased Frenzy's feelings for me."

"Why didn't you?"

"I couldn't; not enough time and there was no way I was going to be alone with him again." Rad said grumbling, though winced at the pain in his throat.

"You do realize though that I may not be chosen to be your guardian, right? So how are you going to get away when more cards activate? This…" Bluestreak began.

"You're beginning to babble again." Rad said smiling softly.

"Sorry, I can't help it. You really bring out the worry wart in me. And isn't that a funny word; worry wart. I don't have any organic tissues so I can't get a wart, but yet why do they call people that anyway? It just doesn't make any sense is all…"

Rad's smile widened as he listened to Bluestreak's rambling, and decided to give his own voice a rest as he listened to Bluestreak speak.


	24. Wavering Illusions Part 1

Rad ran excitedly into his aunt's house, and found her backing a chocolate cake. He looked around before his face fell. "Aunt Raven, where are-" his question was cut off by the phone ringing. Rad tried to ignore Raven's wince as he answered it. "Hello?"

"Rad?"

"Dad!" Rad said excitedly. "Why aren't you here? Did your flight get delayed or something?"

"That's the thing, sport. Your mother and I have stumbled on a huge find and we've been asked to stay another six months. Tell Ray I said 'hi.'" The phone then went dead.

Rad hollowly put the phone back and looked blankly at his aunt. "He didn't even care that tomorrow was…" his voice trailed off, the bruise around his throat now healed to a very light yellow.

Raven winced again and tried to lighten the mood by handing Rad a wrapped up box. "Um, I decided to give this to you early. It's the tapes of your great-grandmother and her adventures."

Rad nodded and accepted the box graciously. "Thank you, Aunt Raven."

Not only did he get a guardian, but when he had come home his aunt had told him about their family tree and his predecessor being Sakura, but also that she was his great-grandma; he found out that it was Raven who had put the Clow book in his drawer where Kero sleeps.

Raven watched Rad head upstairs before she muttered to herself, "Big brother, you and that wife of yours have no idea how much heartache you're causing my nephew."

* * *

Rad put the box on his bed and unwrapped it as Kero flew over curiously. "What is this?"

"My great-grandma Sakura's adventures as a Cardcaptor." Rad explained somewhat plainly.

Kero blinked before nodding. "I remember that now."

"And you didn't any other time?" Rad asked dryly.

Kero flushed indignantly. "Hey, stuff happens when your sle-guarding a book!"

Rad secretly rolled his eyes, but didn't comment on it. "Well, she gave me this as an early present since tomorrow is my birthday."

Kero stared at him blankly. "Tomorrow's your birthday?" Rad nodded. A sly grin came to Kero's face. "You getting anything from your boyfriend?"

Rad blushed bright red and threw a pillow at Kero's head. "Shut up, you plushy!" he yelled.

Kero got out from under the pillow and was still grinning. "What, it's a perfectly acceptable question."

Rad glared; still red in the face. "Well, I don't know, and I don't really expect him too." His voice got lower. "I don't need any more disappointments."

Kero chose to stay silent as he cautiously looked out the window and saw a small red Porsche in the parking lot. "What's that car doing here?"

"That's Cliffjumper. He volunteered to be my guardian until they're sure Frenzy is going to leave me alone." Rad replied. "Wait, you just now noticed him?"

"Hey, I've been thinking it was that Bluestreak fellow when I'd hear a car engine out there." Kero replied defensively.

Rad sighed sadly. "He can't come over to see me every day like he normally would without rousing suspicion, and I think 'Aid's already starting to suspect something."

"What if a card shows up?" Kero asked.

Rad sighed again. "I'll just sneak away and make an excuse if he notices I'm gone." He replied and his cell phone rang. He picked it up and answered when he saw the caller I.D. "Hey, Blue."

"Hello, Rad. Can you meet me in the woods behind your Aunt's house at 7:00pm? I have something for you." Bluestreak replied.

Rad's considerably dark mood lightened. "Sure, Blue. I'll see you then."

* * *

"Be careful, Rad." Kero said as Rad started to climb out his bedroom window.

Rad smirked. "Careful is my middle name." he saw Kero shift uneasily as he climbed down the vine winding up to his room and along the rest of the wall. Luckily his aunt loved gardening so this provided perfect cover since Cliff had gone into the garage for the night.

He landed quietly on the ground and headed over to the woods. He personally thought the forest looked rather serene in the twilight evening as he walked through the woods. He came to a lake he used to play in as a little kid and felt a strange feeling wash over him.

He blinked and suddenly found himself staring straight at two people he never expected to see. "Dad? Mom?"

His parents smiled at him as they stood out in the water and held out their hands in a welcoming gesture. Rad barely felt his feet move as he walked over to the lake edge and then deeper into the water, not even noticing the fact his parents had yet to speak to him. He faintly heard a woman's voice yelling at him to get away, though somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought it sounded like Sakura.

When Rad came within arm's reach, both his parents suddenly grabbed a hold of his arms and shoved him face first into the water and held his head under. Rad struggled as a cold sensation washed over him in a very similar way to Watery's presence.

The hands holding him down vanished and felt the water twist and wave around him, the turbulence only added to him being knocked around violently.

Just before he felt darkness over take him, he saw through the watery surface a pair of worried spectral green eyes staring at him.

"Ughh…" Rad groaned as he opened his eyes and found himself staring into a very worried pair of blue optics and a pair of green eyes came to mind. They had looked so familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it as he had nearly drowned, again. "I'm alive?"

Those blue optics showed visible relief. "Thank Primus you're okay! I was really worried that you were gone. Why on Cybertron would you go into a lake in the first place? Are you insane in the mainframe?" he rushed out.

Rad held up a dripping wet hand. "One; I went into the lake because I …thought I saw something." He wasn't comfortable saying what he' seen. "Two; you should already know the answer to that, Blue."

Bluestreak smiled weakly. "I was really worried about you."

Rad's eyes softened. "I'm sorry, you've had to save me twice now from drowning." He looked up at him curiously. "How did you find me anyway?"

"Well, I heard someone shouting your name." Bluestreak sounded confused himself. "And they were yelling, 'get away from them, they're not real'-" he even used the quotation marks,-"And I followed the voice to this spot and once I saw you lying face down in the water, all I thought about was saving you."

"I get that the last time I nearly drowned it was either Carly or Spike that revived me, but who did it this time?" Rad questioned.

"I did." Bluestreak replied. "It was what I wanted to show you, Rad." His optics powered down and a form suddenly appeared in front of the blond.

Rad's eyes widened as he took in the messy brown hair, charming face, those soft blue eyes, and gray and blue clothing; only one thing came to mind. "Blue? But how…?"

"It's called a holoform." The 'human shrugged. "I can make it look like anything I want, and I thought that I can use this so we can be together in public without anyone knowing it's me. You know, take you on a real date." He smiled sheepishly as he took the blonde's hands in his own. "I hope you like your early birthday present."

Rad smiled brightly, despite the fact he was soaked, cold and weary from all he'd been through. "I love it." He leaned forward and took the holoform's lips in his own. "And I love you." He breathed pulling back.

There was a bright red stain of color on the holoform's cheeks. "I love you too, Rad." His tone turned more considerate. "Now you should head home, I've kept you here long enough."

"Right." With another chaste kiss, Rad took off back home.

* * *

A spectral form watched Rad sleep peacefully, Kero curled up loyally by his side, since he longer had to hide in Rad's drawer or worry about Raven finding him.

"What are you doing here?"

If ghosts could jump, Sakura would have been 10 feet in the air. "Um, being a worrying grandmother."

Raven's eyes softened. "You can clearly see that he's okay now."

Sakura nodded as she moved away from the door. "I know, but I can't help but feel as though these cards really want him dead. Two cards tried to kill him this time, and I can't help but think of how he'll handle…" she looked pointedly at Raven, who turned away.

Sakura gave Rad one last look. 'I hope he stays okay.' Then something came to mind as she faded away. 'Hope…that's it.'


	25. Wavering Illusions Part 2

"Happy Birthday, Rad!" Raven said cheerily as she gave Rad a peck on the cheek and handed him a 50 dollar bill. "You can bring anyone you want back for your party after school."

Rad stare at her suspiciously, but then smirked. "Thanks, but I don't think any Autobots would want to come to an organic creation day celebration." he said as he went out the front door and nearly tripped over a small box. "Huh?" he picked it up and it had a little note on it. 'Too Rad, huh?' he thought as he opened the box and pulled out a silver chain bracelet with a thing line of red running through it. "Cool" he murmured as he tossed the box aside and put the bracelet on, and he felt instantly better as he got into the passenger seat of the red Porsche. This wasn't Bluestreak after all. "Hey, Cliff, did you happen to see anyone this morning?"

Despite being in car form, Cliffjumper seemed agitated at this. "No. Why, did he show up?"

Rad knew that Cliff didn't like the 'Cons, but to insult one by not using their name showed deep contempt. "No one came, I was just wondering if Bluestreak came by. He drives me to school sometimes." He said casually, not even mentioning that 'sometimes' meant 'all the time.'

Cliffjumper bristled. "What am I? Not your guardian?" he huffed.

Rad sweat dropped. "Of course you are, I just figured you wouldn't want to spend all day a taxi service."

"I'm your guardian, Rad. No matter how temporary it seems, I take this very seriously." Cliffjumper said solemnly. "Besides, you're my friend and I don't want that little Deceptipunk to get his hands on you."

Rad blinked at the serious promise. "Um, wow." He muttered and he admired the bracelet one last time before they headed to the school.

The ride to school didn't feel any different than normal, but once he got there, he had practically jumped out of the car and into the arms of the person standing there.

"What are you doing here?" he asked the holo-Blue.

"I came to ask you if you wanted to go out tomorrow?" Bluestreak asked, looking happy to be able to asked Rad out in public.

"Rad, who is this?" Cliffjumper asked bluntly and suspiciously.

Rad smiled as he looked at the Porsche. "This is…Gray," he ignored the raised brow from Blue, "and he's my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Cliffjumper repeated and searched up the word. "Oh, you two are in a romantic relationship?"

Rad nodded. "We've been together for 6 months now."

"I…see." Cliffjumper said in a strained tone. "I'm so…happy for…you." He grated out.

Bluestreak ignored the less than enthusiastic response as he looked at Rad. "So, 7:00pm sound good?"

Rad nodded. "Sounds great. See ya then." He paused then grinned slyly. "Hey, it's my birthday today, wanna come over after school? It's just a small party with my aunt, and if you don't I under-"

"I'd love too." Bluestreak said happily and he kissed Rad before jogging away.

"Wow." Rad said breathily, then he turned to the school. "Later Cliff!"

* * *

"This isn't fair." Frenzy groused throwing a rubber ball at the wall.

"Well, if you hadn't tried to kill your fleshy, the boss wouldn't have 'grounded' you." Rumble snickered.

Frenzy scowled at him and threw the ball at him. "Shut up."

"Aw, are you missing your fleshy?" Rumble taunted.

Frenzy lunged at him. "I said shut up!"

"Frenzy: Desist." A monotonous voice commanded.

The red 'Con stopped and looked up at Soundwave. "Sorry boss." He said sheepishly.

The blue mech stared at him, then at his twin. "Rumble: Leave."

"Aww." The purple cassette whined as he left the room, leaving Soundwave and Frenzy alone.

"So, what-"

"Explain situation with Fleshling." Soundwave interrupted suddenly.

Frenzy looked momentarily shocked, but who was he kidding? Rumble knew, Laserbeak definitely knew, Ravage knew, Pit, even Ratbat and probably Buzzsaw knew. So by process of elimination, Soundwave was bound to find out about his 'crush' on Rad eventually. He wasn't stupid after all.

"Who told you?" Frenzy demanded.

"No one. Found it conclusive after hearing thoughts." Soundwave replied. "Now, explain."

Frenzy looked away in an uncharacteristic display of shyness. Now was the time to come clean, it'd be too distracting to continuously keep thinking of Rad, even when he didn't want too.

"I like him, not 'love' him like Batty said." He muttered. "But he doesn't like me. Why are you asking me this anyway?"

"Pertinent to new mission: solo." Soundwave responded.

"Really?" Frenzy asked in disbelief, then he got excited. "What is it?"

"Mission: Win Fleshling over to Decepticon side." Soundwave replied.

"So I've been given permission to literally pursue this fleshy?" Frenzy asked. The blue mech nodded. This caused the cassette to grin widely. 'Like a dream come true, huh?'

* * *

Because Rad was safe in school, Cliffjumper was allowed to head back to the Ark until after school ended. He was in a dark mood as he grabbed a cube of energon and sat with the other Minibots in the rec. room.

"How is Rad?" Bumblebee asked.

"He's fine, his bruise is almost gone." Cliffjumper replied.

"Then what's got your tailpipe in a twist?" Brawn asked.

Cliffjumper frowned. "Did Rad tell any of you that he had a boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?" They all repeated.

"Who's got a boyfriend?" Sideswipe asked as he, his twin and Bluestreak walked over.

"Rad." Bumblebee replied, looking a little dazed.

Sideswipe grinned. "Aw, it seems little Raddy's growing up." He chuckled.

"Oh, I knew that. He's a very nice fellow really." Bluestreak said cheerily. 'I should know since it's me.'

"Wait, you knew?" Cliffjumper questioned angrily. "Why would he tell you and not us? He was our friend before you stole him away from us!" he hissed.

Bluestreak recoiled. "I never stole him away."

"Maybe Rad just out grew you." Sunstreaker said haughtily.

Cliffjumper glared at him. "Rad wouldn't do that! He's the most loyal and decent person I know!"

Bumblebee stared at him somewhat worriedly. "Cliffjumper, are you jealous of this boy?"

"What?" Cliffjumper yelled incredulously. "I have no reason to be jealous of a human!"

"No, I understand completely." Bumblebee replied reasonably. "When Spike and Carly got together, I myself was jealous of their relationship because it felt like I was losing my best friend."

"Heh." Cliff jumper mumbled and he grew steadily uncomfortable with the critical gazes he was gaining and blurted out the first thing that came to processor. "It's Rad's birthday today."

"Well that's news to me." Sideswipe mused. "Either of you know this, Sunny, Blue?"

"No, and don't call me that." Sunstreaker said waspishly.

"I knew" Bluestreak said abruptly and they all looked at him. "Rad told me when his birthday was after we became friends and I wished him a happy birthday last night." he said. 'If you can call a kiss a happy birthday wish.'

"Last night?" Cliffjumper repeated. "I didn't see you."

"I called him on his cell phone." Bluestreak replied like it was obvious.

Cliffjumper glared at him. "You have Rad's number?"

Bluestreak nodded. "Yes. He also gave his number to 'Aid after he got that head injury so he doesn't have to go to a human doctor or Ratch, speaking of which, why is he so scared of Ratchet?" he said changing the subject suddenly.

Everyone blinked before surprisingly Windcharger spoke up. "Rad came to see me in the Med Bay and Ratchet almost stepped on him. Rad thankfully got out of the way, but he flees out the room if he sees Ratch at any time or even if his name is mentioned."


	26. Wavering Illusions Part 3

"So what kind of cards could I be dealing with?" Rad asked Kero as the guardian was eating a slice of birthday cake.

"Hmm, what exactly happened when you encountered them?" Kero questioned.

"Well, I felt uneasy, and before I went into the lake; I saw…my parents." Rad explained quietly, making Kero and Raven wince while Bluestreak grabbed his hand in comfort. "Then when I was in reach, they pushed me under and I felt cold, like before when Watery tried to drown me." He finished.

Kero was silent for a moment. "Rad, before you saw your 'parents,' what were you thinking about?"

"How my parents couldn't be here for my birthday, even though they promised." Rad muttered.

"I see." Kero replied just as quietly. "I believe that your vision was the work of Illusion, and the other card may be Wave."

"How do I beat them?" Rad questioned.

Kero did smile slightly at that. "It's quite simple really. You see, you cannot capture a card unless they are in their true form, and the only way to do that is to make them reveal their real forms, fulfil a requirement, or call out their names." He explained.

"That does sound simple." Rad smirked and moved to stand, only for Raven to keep him in place by grabbing his arm.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" she questioned sternly.

Rad awkwardly sat back down. "Uh, going to capture the card?" he offered and winced slightly when Raven narrowed her eyes. Wrong answer it seemed.

"After what happened before? No way!" she exclaimed. "I'm not letting you face them alone this time, what if you get sidetracked by the illusions again?" she pointed out.

"Raven is right; it would be more practical to have back-up in case you get distracted again to snap you out of it." Kero agreed.

"Alright." Rad relented. "Bluestreak, reform in the forest, Raven and I need to tell Cliff we're taking a walk, Kero, you stay here."

Kero made a sound of indignation, but wished them a good luck nonetheless.

* * *

"They're right in up ahead." Rad murmured with a feeling of trepidation.

What if he saw his parents again? Could he resist this time to walk out to them? He tried not to shudder as he remembered the fact he had nearly been drowned twice now. He really needed to stay away from deep bodies of water.

"Achoo!" he sneezed. "Achoo! Achoo!"

"You alright?" Raven asked concerned.

Rad nodded. "Yeah, probably just a sneezing fit, I'll be fine."

"If you're sure…?" Bluestreak tried this time.

Rad nodded more forcefully. "Yes, I feel fine, really." He said and didn't give them time to reply when he walked on ahead. The three of them came to the lake side and it didn't take long for an image of Mr. and Mrs. White to appear, smiling and holding their hands out to Rad.

"It's not them." Raven said as she put her hand on Rad's shoulder when she saw his face shift to uncertainty.

The look vanished into one of determination as Rad released the Sealing Wand and held it before him. "I know what you really are, Illusion!" he yelled and the image of his parents shifted into a strange kaleidoscope pattern. Rad lifted the staff above him. "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" he shouted and brought the staff down on a glowing shell card.

The Illusion was sucked in and the card floated down into Rad's hand. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing that." Bluestreak commented.

"Neither will I." Raven agreed.

Rad smiled at them both before pocketing the new card and turning his attention to the body of water. "Wave!" he shouted.

A glowing light blue wavy line appeared in the water, contrasting sharply with the dark blue water. Just as Rad was about to seal it, the line expanded and set the whole lake aglow.

"What's it doing?" Bluestreak questioned warily as the water suddenly began to violently move back and forth. The water all receded to move away from the three as it moved to the back.

Raven suddenly got a feeling of dread as she watched the water begin to move toward them, the water move toward them in a wave that got bigger the closer it got. "Tidal Wave! Run!" she yelled as she grabbed Rad's hand and began to hurriedly pull him along, Bluestreak following.

Rad's feet moved on their own as his aunt pulled him along, only looking back when a shadow fell over them and he gasped at the size of the tidal wave above them, and noticed with horror that it was arching over them and getting closer to them.

This was just like with Watery, only worse.

'Wait, that's it!' he thought and pulled the Windy card from his pocket and threw the card in front of him. "Windy, freeze the water!" he shouted, having to have stopped to cast the spell. He immediately though began to catch up with Bluestreak and his aunt, there was no way he was risking his neck just standing there like an idiot.

The trio only stopped running when the tidal wave had completely frozen and Windy was safely back in Rad's pocket. They stared up at the shimmering ice stature; the arch showed that it had been unnervingly close to drowning the two humans.

Rad, if a bit shakily, raised the wand and once again sealed another card in one night. He stared down at the wave patterned stream in the card and then pocketed it, turning back to look at his aunt as he grabbed a hold of Bluestreak's hand. "Let's go home, I should know how terrifying near death experiences are."

Raven looked at him sadly, but her shaking hands gave away just how scared she had been of Wave. "The cards really have grown more vicious." She muttered in a steady voice. "But yeah," she added as she hooked her arm around Rad's free side, "Let's go home."

* * *

The red colored cassetticon had been on his way to try and track down the organic when he had gotten a transmission from Soundwave saying that there was an active energy signature nearby and he had been advised to check it out.

It was only a matter of time before the organic he was looking for eventually stumbled upon it.

Which was why he was now searching through a store with odd trinkets and toys. The sign on the door said it was a toy shop, and he had to wonder briefly why any card would have wanted to hide out in here.

Frenzy snorted. "Who cares, so long as Rad comes here?" He immediately realized his error. "I can't believe I just called the fleshy by his name!" he growled as he began to more aggressively search through the rows of toys lining the shelves for anything that seemed to out of place. "Stupid fleshy, frag him for making me fall in love with him."

He tensed up as soon as the words slipped out. Still, no one was around to hear him make that little confession. A yellow glow made him look to one of the counters he'd passed to reveal a scale with a moon cut out on side, and a sun cut out on the other.

Frenzy grinned, his previous animosity forgotten when he realized that this was what he had been looking for. 'Looks like it really is my lucky day.'


	27. The Libra's Choice

Back in Rad's room, Kero was admiring the two cards that he had captured.

"To be honest, I'm surprised you and your aunt saw the same thing when it came to Illusion."

"Wait what do you mean? Rad asked, writing his name down on Wave. That was the card that would be the worst to recapture again. Wave wasn't as bad as Watery but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"What I mean is that Illusion conforms to the image of each individual person. In this case, your aunt probably saw something different and that includes Bluestreak too since he is now more receptacle to the Clow cards." Rad turned to Bluestreak and met with those comforting blue eyes. He wondered what Blue saw. Maybe it was something bad?

"Rad! Come downstairs!" Aunt Raven called down from the bottom of the stairs. Her voice sounded worried. Rad made a move to get up only to be stopped by Blue grabbing his wrist. Rad turned and was met by a kiss. He melted into it and reluctantly pulled back.

"Be safe Rad."

"I promise I will." He turned to leave only to have Kero fly up to his face.

"I'm coming with you! I feel a Clow card had showed itself!"

"Ok but you need to hide since we're going to be in Cliffjumper."

"Right!" Kero flew into Rad's hoodie pocket, muttering about having to hide again. Rad fingered the key around his neck and headed down the stairs, fearing for the worst. Aunt Raven looked more disappointed than scared.

"What's wrong?"

"Somebody broke into the toy store. I want you to go over there and make sure nothings been stolen."

"Okay!" Before Rad could even move towards the door, Raven called to him, "stay safe! The security cameras show that the person inside is a Decepticon." Rad had a quick word with himself that he'll be safe. Cliffjumper was his guardian and should be able to take care of the intruder.

'Please let it not be Frenzy!'

* * *

This scale was peculiar. Frenzy touched the scale, large black digits traced the gem at the top of the scale.

"This should get Rad-frag I meant the Glowy Fleshy to come to me!" It was weird that this card stayed stagnant. It wasn't trying to move towards him nor away from him. Is this a card worth Rad's time? Was the card useful in any way, shape, or form to him or to the Decepticons? He touched the two individual scales. Nothing.

With a frown, Frenzy picked up the scale.

"What does this thing do?" Suddenly, the scale showed two scenarios; on the moon side, it showed the time Rumble had strolled in time for Frenzy to ask where his music went. Rumble shrugged and claimed that Skywarp most likely had it. On the sun side, the same scene played except this time, he heard Rumble's thoughts saying he took it and will plant it in Skywarp's room later. The moon floated downwards while the sun rose. That was when Frenzy figured it out: the scale shows the truth.

"Not really useful. I guess it's only use is when-"

"Not you again!" Ah there he was! Turning slowly, there stood Rad and that plushy. Rad was glowing again and Frenzy couldn't help as his spark sped up. He finally had the fleshy alone! Something didn't feel right though. The presence from the scale made him turn and the scale glowed brightly.

It seemed to be trying to communicate to Frenzy. That was a weird revelation to come to.

"Rad, that's Libra. The card shows people the truth and a rumor behind it is secret desires."

"Ok, but is it aggressive?"

"No."

"Good," The staff elongated from Rad's neck and Rad spun it in the air, "Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" The staff hit halfway in thin air and a glowing shell created the card, and the Libra was sucked in. Rad held his hand out expecting Libra to come to him.

He paled when the card floated to Frenzy instead. Before Rad could let out a yell in disbelief, he heard Cliffjumper, "Rad? Rad! I'm coming in!" With a swift grab, Rad shoved Kero into his hoodie pocket and the staff turned back into the key necklace again.

Frenzy with a blank face took the card and opened his subspace, tucking the card away. He was thinking about messing with the glowing fleshy but this wasn't the time especially when the Autoboob was coming.

Cliffjumper crouched into the toy store and saw Frenzy pressed into the corner, looking at Rad. No teasing, no threats, and to his relief, no physical contact.

That was dashed when Frenzy gave a smirk.

"Surprised you got a guard dog there fleshy. Am I too much to handle?"

"Shut up!" Rad yelled, his face turning red more out of anger than embarrassment. Frenzy's smirk grew and he took a step closer.

Cliffjumper whipped out his blaster and yelled, "Freeze!" The Decepticon moved, towards Rad and being his guardian, Cliffjumper swept Rad close to him as he aimed. A couple shots rang off, one hitting Frenzy in the arm while the other shot grazed the Decepticon's helm. Suddenly Frenzy was close enough to punch Cliffjumper. Instead, Frenzy slid on his knees under him and dashed a couple of feet before shooting up into the sky.

"Thanks for the gift by the way!" With a wave, Frenzy shot off towards the ocean, leaving nothing behind. Rad looked up at the sky with his guardian and he didn't feel good about this. It was nice Bluestreak was picking up on the magic thanks to being exposed to Clow Cards but Frenzy seemed to be picking up on it and oh no…

What if Megatron sent him just to find that out?

"Don't worry Rad, you're safe." Cliffjumper said, oblivious to the situation Rad was dealing with. He put Rad down and transformed, opening the door for his charge. With slow movements, Rad seated himself in the car and they drove back home.

* * *

After reassuring Aunt Raven about the toy store with nothing being stolen, Rad went into his room feeling rather sick. Frenzy could now pick up Clow Cards. Bluestreak stood up at the sight of horror on Rad's face.

"What happened?"

"There was a Clow Card at the toy store," Rad whispered, not knowing whether to cry or to collapse. He walked over to Blue and was welcomed into that nice embrace.

"What else happened? Did you get the card?"

Rad shook his head.

"Frenzy has the card." He slumped in defeat and found himself in bed, Bluestreak still in his holoform running his fingers through Rad's hair. It felt nice. Kero squirmed out of Rad's pocket and floated over so both Blue and Rad could see him.

"To be honest I was a little surprised to see Libra go with Rad yet at the same time it makes sense."

"Translation please?" Blue asked and Rad quietly watched as Kero decided to sit on Blue's shoulder. He stretched a couple kinks out of his back before he continued, "You know Thunder went to you after you restrained him correct?"

Bluestreak nodded and Rad sat up to watch Kero explain, "Well it was the same deal with Frenzy. He was exposed to Clow Card supposedly on the Nemesis when Rad went to get Erase and when Arrow was attacking Rad."

"When did that happen?" Blue asked in surprise, staring at Rad. Some birthday this was turning out to be. Rad bowed his head and shook it a bit.

"Can we continue on?"

"The point is Frenzy had interaction with the cards enough to pick cards up. Most likely Libra will change its mind since Frenzy doesn't know that to make the card yours is to write your name on it."

Rad smiled a little bit at that knowledge. At least the card will be set free when it gets used again.

* * *

Frenzy looked at the card and smiled as his name was written on the bottom of the card. Now he had the perfect tool to pursue Rad. It was only a matter of time before the invention was complete.

* * *

 **Hey guys! Shade Penn gave me permission to finish this story so I hope you don't mind my writing style and I have much planned for this series! Have a good day Everybody! Signing Off: The Sunflower Seed**


	28. Shielding Time

Bluestreak looked down at his mech-friend with worrisome eyes. The cards were stressful with their attempts to kill him but adding a Decepticon who is infatuated with Rad? It was starting to take its toll on Rad. Softly, Bluestreak kissed Rad's temple and glanced at the clock.

5 a.m.

Rad needed his sleep for school tomorrow and he had to report back to the Ark for his shift. Pressing another kiss to Rad's forehead, he peeled himself off of Rad's bed and walked over to the window. It was serene, even more than usual because of the capture of Wave and Illusion. Now he didn't have to worry about Rad dying just by going into his backyard! Opening the window, Blue swung himself out of the window and climbed down the rose ladder.

"This is handy for escape routes when escaping from a little red devil named Cliffjumper." Blue muttered as his feet connected with the ground. He quietly walked to the forest where Wave and Illusion were, hiding amongst the trees before turning off his holoform and disappearing back to the Ark.

* * *

Morning rose, sunlight filtering into the orange room. Rad woke up and groaned. He really didn't want to go to school today. Not after the encounter with Frenzy and especially his dream from last night.

 _It was a school day. Class was about to start but something captivated him. A new guy. Black hair, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, like…like…his heart was speeding up. It hurt! He ran. He ran and he ran from his classroom to the Ark but only to find himself repeating the game again! The guy, he knew what was going on and he yelled at him to get his head straight and find the kni-_

Cling! The phone vibrated, notifying Rad that his mech-friend sent him a text. Rad seductively patted his nightstand for a few minutes before grabbing his target. Looking at the phone he unlocked his phone and read the text message.

Blue: Hey, how you feeling?:

Rad rubbed his eyes before answering.

Rad: Not so good…:

Cling!

Blue: Aww… Do you want to do something today?:

Rad: Not so sure:

Blue: Got to go. Prime is assigning me patrol to make sure Frenzy doesn't emerge from the Decepticon base. Text me if you need anything at all. I love you!:

Rad: I love you too:

Rolling out of bed, it was time to get ready for school.

* * *

What was everybody looking at? Seriously! Grr…this sucked! It's been a while since he has been in school per say but it was as though he never left it. All the people were still gawking at him! What was wrong with his clothes!? He was wearing black jeans, a blue hoodie, and fingerless gloves. A girl was looking at him with a snotty face. Clenching his hand, he was about to strike when, "Hey, do you need help or something?"

The guy turned to lay his eyes on a gorgeous guy…wow that didn't sound right in some retrospect. The stranger had blonde hair, bright blue eyes, an orange key around his neck, and a bracelet that was silver with red running through the middle. Stunning piece of jewelry that was!

"Did you hear me?"

"I did."

"Well, uh, what's your name?"

"Freddy Fazbear." Oh wait a minute! Whoops!

"Isn't that a video game character?"

"Yeah. People started calling me that after the game came out."

"So your name is Fred?"

"Well…"

"Well what?" He looked at the blonde hair guy and frowned. Maybe he should tell him what happened. It was too soon though. For now he had to stick to what he was told.

"Listen my name is Ian Moone."

"I'm Rad, Rad White," Rad held out his hand and Ian moved his hand out cautiously before returning the handshake firmly, "Do you want help with your schedule?"

"Yeah. I would um…like that." Ian was blushing and seemed embarrassed.

'Must be a loner type.' Rad thought as Ian dug through his backpack and gave Rad his schedule. Taking a look, each class corresponded with his. Now that Rad thought about it, his class always had an odd number of people and with Ian coming into his classes, he could finally have a partner! Smiling, Rad laughed with a concerned sweatdrop, "You're actually in all my classes. You can tag along if you want to."

"That's weird. I thought I told the secretary to keep me out of certain classes."

"Am I really that bad at introductions?" Rad teased. It was a different experience with this guy. It was though they clicked instantaneously and it was easy to talk to him. Ian stuck his tongue out at Rad, "Nah, it's a bad experience with the same people in the same classes. Not saying you're terrible already."

Flashing a wicked smile, Ian put a finger to his lips and pointed to the girl who was sneering at him a while ago. He walked over to her, liking how the fountain was positioned. Waltzing over, Ian looked at the girl and she sent him a death glare. Before Rad could tell him to stay away from her (because she was trouble and all that good jazz,) Ian stuck his foot out when the girl went to take a step back from the intrusion on her personal space.

SPLASH!

"AGH! You jerk!" The girl shrieked, throwing her fist out in the air, completely soaked from head to toe. She did not make a move to get out of the fountain.

Ian strolled over to Rad and asked, "Where's our first class? The bell is about to ring."

"Follow me." Even though Rad didn't usually approve of people being mean to one another, that girl was probably the nastiest in the school. She got a taste of her own medicine for once.

"What was her name?"

"Oh Angelica Johanson."

"Ironic that is supposed to be a good name yet it fits a supposed devil." Rad chuckled at that.

Bleep-boop! His cellphone went off. Rad rummaged through his pocket and found Kero taking an awkward selfie of him kind of peeping out of his backpack.

"Damn it Kero!"

"Kero?"

"Oh uh, it's my cousin's nickname!" Rad tried to explain as he slung the backpack around to try and close the hole. He successfully did until-

Bleep-boop!

It was that gosh darn selfie again! But wait, the time stamp was wrong. He got it just now but he swore he got it five minutes ago. It happened a couple more times before Kero texted: Time and Shield card. Time hard, Shield easy. Use Sword for Shield. Grab Shield and we'll figure out how to deal with Time:

But where is Shield? Not like it was going to pop out in front of-

The thought train stopped when a feeling of protectiveness washed over Rad. He looked to his left and spotted the mascot/statuette of the school, a knight holding a shield with pink roses on them. Which had to be Shield because his school colors were black and green. He stopped in front of the knight and Ian stopped too. Oh yeah, he had to get Ian to not witness him sealing a card.

"Hey listen, I'll meet you in the lab. It's straight ahead." Ian looked from Rad to the lab and then back again. Maybe he had a dumb fascination with the statue that he doesn't want anybody to see or something. With a raised eyebrow, he obeyed and went into the lab.

Rad looked both ways before releasing his staff. The coast was clear. He slipped out the Sword and released the card, "I command you to under our contract release, Sword Card!" His staff felt more like a sharp weapon than it did a staff. He walked over to the shield with the pink roses and clocked it with his staff. To say it was easy, was an understatement. The Sword broke the Shield, "Return to the guise you were mean to be in, Clow Card!"

The light shell engulfed the card and the card fluttered over. Writing his name, Rad tucked the card in his pocket until another text from Kero popped up.

Kero: Rad, use Shield to protect yourself from Time:

With a sigh, another glance around, Rad raised the card from his pocket and quietly whispered, "Shield, protect me from Time." A subtle glimmer engulfed Rad and then it faded. Walking back to class, Rad felt something weird as though time was ticking slowly by.

* * *

"Rumble: Report."

"The Glowy Fleshy seems to be doing a-okay. Apparently he captured a card and there's another one where he is located currently."

"Received. Keep surveillance on human."

"Yeah boss."

* * *

Currently Cliffjumper was in the Ark, drinking some energon. Something wasn't right with Rad. Last night was strange when Frenzy shouted about a gift. What was that all about? As far as Cliffjumper witnessed, Frenzy didn't even touch Rad.

"Hey Cliff! As the humans say, "What's shakin' bacon?" Cliffjumper looked up to find Bluestreak waltzing over. Primus is he just grinding his gears today! He sent a glare to his comrade. Blue ignored it, taking a seat across from his friend. Silence followed for a bit before Blue started the conversation, "So how was last night? I heard Frenzy was with Rad. It must be scary for him to be in the same room with him! How did that come around anyway? I mean sure it was necessary if you were trying to take him somewhere but I just don't get-"

"Will you shut your greasy energon processing intake for one astrosecond!?" Blue flinched at Cliffjumper's anger. With resigned respect for his smaller friend, Blue relaxed into his seat, letting Cliffjumper take his time in compiling his composure. What had gotten into his gears lately? With an eye roll, Blue mentally answered, ' _It's more about the relationship Rad has with me or rather "Grey" as Rad called my holoform. I wish he came up with a better way to hide myself. You'd think Grey would be an obvious answer._ '

Sunstreaker waltzed in and looped his arm around Blue's shoulder, "Ah Cliffjumper is just jealous you've been in the good graces of Rad."

"Shut it Sunny!"

"Not my fault Rad prefers a chatty partner."

Before Cliffjumper could snap at Sunstreaker for his comment, Optimus walked through the door and the rec room fell silent. The Prime looked from Smokescreen and various mechs playing poker. His optics settled on Bluestreak, Sunstreaker, and Cliffjumper. Everyone resumed their activities minus the three mechs as the fourth mech joined their group.

"Hello."

"Hi Prime." Cliffjumper grumbled, crossing his arms over his chassis. Optimus frowned behind his mask before looking to the other two mechs, silently asking them if they know what was up with his friend.

"Cliff is just in a sour mood because of Blue being close to Rad is all." Sunstreaker explained before leaving, not wanting to really get involved with a pissed off Cliff, a confused Blue, and a concerned Prime. It was going to be something he of mechs did not want to get involved with. He can deal with seekers but Prime added to the building drama? Oh frag to the no!

Optimus watched Sunstreaker retreat across the rec room to join his brother in a human game. Had to do with smashing. It was nice that they were now more open to human culture than previously. Turning his attention back to the two mechs, Optimus sat in a chair, Bluestreak on his right and Cliffjumper on the left.

"Cliffjumper, you are jealous of Bluestreak?"

"What?! Pit no!"

"Then do you care to share what the real problem is?" Optimus softly asked. Cliffjumper hesitated for a moment. Should he tell Prime about last night? More importantly: should he tell him in front of Bluestreak? It was bad enough Frenzy made contact with Rad (again!) yet what the punk said to Rad hadn't made any sense whatsoever.

With a quick glance to Bluestreak, Cliffjumper let out a sigh of annoyance before giving his answer, "I'd rather tell you in private sir."

"Is it really that bad though?" Bluestreak inquired having a feeling he already knew what Cliffjumper was thinking about. After all, Blue was in Rad's room when the teenager told him about the encounter with Frenzy. A glare was shot his way from the minibot and Blue cringed at the thought of his comrade being mad at him for Rad's companionship. A soft hum emanated from Optimus Prime as he stood.

"I apologize Blustreak but if Cliffjumper wants to confide to me in private, I will acknowledge his request."

"Yes sir."

"Cliffjumper, with me." Both bots stood and exited the room in a relaxed way. Blue was left alone in the semicircle of chairs. His wings sagged a bit as he thought about how miserable Rad seemed this morning. Maybe he can use his free time to try and come up with something to cheer up his boyfriend. Yeah! This will be nice! With renowned vigor, Bluestreak removed himself from the rec. room and started towards his suite, wings now bouncing with hope on making Rad happy.

* * *

FINALLY! The school bell rang for the last time of the day. Everyone scrambled to get out of the room minus Ian and Rad. Ian had to hang back as the teacher tried to give him some tips on catching up with the class (especially learning Shakespeare and deciphering each line,) while Rad checked his cellphone. Kero had texted him again and no texts from Bluestreak. With a frown, Rad shoved his cellphone back into his pocket, remembering what had transpired this morning.

Bluestreak did have a job at the Ark and Rad wasn't going to interrupt him while he was working. Not to mention another Clow Card was causing Rad to experience the day more slowly than anyone here.

"Hey." Rad jumped at Ian's voice. It was deep yet sounded soft like a comforting hand. With a sigh, Rad relaxed his shoulders smiling at his new friend.

"Sorry about that. Getting some anxiety is all."

"Why?"

"You know slow day, homework, family complications," Rad shrugged, "you name it." By the expression on Ian's face, he rolled his eyes. It was hard to tell what Ian was really thinking as his eyes were covered by sunglasses. At first Rad assumed he was blind but Ian could read and write like normal so that was out. Maybe a degenerative eye disease? Nah, Ian would tell him once Rad gained more of his trust. The new kid shrugged his backpack on.

"I'd like to stay and chat; unfortunately, I need to leave."

"Do you walk home? Or take the bus?"

"The bus."

"You know I have a friend who could give you a lift home if you really need it."

"No thanks," Ian scoffed, pushing Rad out of the way before calling out behind him, "you're still a stranger to me remember? I'll do it some other time!" With that, Ian was gone.

Along with the teacher too.

"Hey!" Kero yelled indignantly, squeezing out of the backpack's zipper. He fluttered in front of Rad, nibbly arms crossed against his chest.

"I understand you're trying to be nice to the guy but we need to catch Time!"

"Didn't you make Shield protect you?"

"Yes. Technically it was Li Shaoran's idea which caused Time to choose him as his master instead of Sakura."

"So even she had problems with cards choosing different masters?" Rad questioned, making sure the coast was clear before elongating his staff, whipping out Shield. Kero nodded, floating next to Rad as they walked the school's hallways.

"Yup but now it's split between three people: you, Blue, and Frenzy. Sakura only had a problem with Li getting the cards," Kero stroked his chin for a minute before continuing, "actually Meiling helped Li out with trying to capture Sakura's cards. In the end though, Sakura became the cards new master after some time."

"How though?"

"It's something I don't want to tell you until all the cards are found. That's when everything goes weird and it has a lot more explanations to it. Actually you better turn on Shield before Time catches wind we are still here."

"Did you just make a pun?"

"…Maybe." A sweatdropped appeared on Rad as he sighed before taking out the Shield card. He stared at it for a moment before tossing it into the air and striking it with his staff.

"Shield, protect us from Time's influence!" A shimmer in the air before there was an orb surrounding all of Rad and a separate one for Kero. When they had reached the door to the school, it was night.

"It turns out Time made sure we slowed down but since we counteracted his influence with Shield-"

"Found him!" Rad pointed at the top of the building, an old man hunched over a clock. Rad summoned Fly and his staff turned into his personal witch's broom stick.

"Here goes nothing!" He took off into the air and darted for the old man. Time could feel the presence of the cardcaptor flying towards him at an alarming rate. His worn eyes watched as Rad summoned another card. Knowing when it was time to leave, Time floated out of the tree and into the streets.

"Get back here!" Time did not heed the young man's wishes as he wanted to taste freedom for as long as he wished. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side.

"Wood restrain Time!" The card softly let her branches curl as they tripped Time and ultimately constricted around his body. It didn't hurt him, no, Wood was too kind and gentle to ever hurt anyone unless their new master commanded so.

"Return to the guise you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" The staff encased Time in a glowing shell before the Clow Card reverted back to its form. Rad caught the card and quickly scribbled his name on the card. Wood softly floated back, smiling at her young master before too returning to him in card form.

"Too be honest, I was expecting more of a fight." Rad put the two Clow Cards into his backpack before looking at his phone. It was blowing up with texts from Raven, Bluestreak, and to his surprise, Cliffjumper. He read Cliffjumper's first since he was Rad's bodyguard and ride.

Cliff: Where are you?:

Rad: I'm at the school.:

Cliff: Sorry if I didn't pick you up right away. Prime wanted to talk to me.:

Rad: That's okay. I was hanging out with a friend.:

Cliff: I'm on my way:

Not sure how to reply to that, Rad read the panicking texts from his aunt (replying about Cliff and Prime) before reading Blue's texts. It was sweet to see what Blue had written.

"I'm going back into your bag." Kero huffed, sinking into the backpack and zipping the zipper. Not liking being ignored, Kero found the rest of Rad's chocolate's and started munching away. Rad put away his staff, hanging the necklace back around his neck as he giggled at the texts, unaware of a symbiont recording the whole encounter.

* * *

The Libra shimmered at its master, waiting to comply with his wishes. Frenzy stared down at the scale trying to think of a good question for the scale. Should he ask how the Glowy Fleshy feels about him? What does he see in that gunner? Maybe a way to win the war and make the Fleshy his? There were too many questions circulating through his processor.

"Frenzy, the human caught another card thing." Laserbeak commed, her static being interfered with. It only happened when there was a rogue Clow Card on the loose. Actually that might be what he needed! Looking to the scale, Frenzy stroked the sun part of the scale.

"Show me where the next card will be found."

'After all, the Fleshy would head there next.'

The Libra shimmered happily as the scales tipped again, this time revealing where the rogue card was. Frenzy smirked.

* * *

 **Hey guys! I FINALLY updated this series! I know, I know I've been absent for a long time but if you want an in-depth reason on why I was gone, just look on my profile, I updated it to include why it might take me twice as long to update certain fanfics and all that jazz but I will tell you there's a special treat for the next chapter (at least in my opinion.) Anyways goodnight everybody it is late for me in my time zone so peace! Signing Off: The Sunflower Seed**


	29. Return to the Past

**Hi everyone! An update so soon?! What kind of sorcery is this?! Actually this is the treat: Shade Penn (yes the original author of this series), wrote most of this chapter. She wanted to…oh wait! No spoilers! You have to read what she wrote but here's a challenge: can you tell whose writing is whose? Enjoy and review! Signing off: The Sunflower Seed**

* * *

Everything was quiet, almost eerily so. Frenzy frowned as he glanced around the dark 'community garden' as it was called. And here he had Libra's choice in hide-outs was strange. He paused, his thoughts of the card he'd acquired inevitably turning to what he learned about himself, and that in turn had him thinking of that glowing fleshy.

Frenzy scowled as he could feel his spark speed up at the mere thought of him, and he entertained the thought of smashing up the vegetables. Unfortunately, working out his frustrations would have to wait until after he found the card which activated earlier.

He was once again in Autobot territory, so doing something other than just being there would frag up the mission. Libra had been in a shop, but this card was out in the open among the vegetables. He remembered the video Beaky showed them of Rain and Wood, and how the latter had made a mess with those branches. Was there a card which had to do with squishy organic plant life?

Frenzy chuckled darkly. "Maybe one of these cards could get me to understand just what that Glowy Fleshy sees in that annoying gunner." he muttered to himself. He caught a glimpse of something speed by from the corner of his optic band. He activated his pile drivers and scowled as he looked wildly in all directions. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Had he been spotted? Did Blaster send one of his own cassettes in after him? Frenzy continued searching for the card while keeping an optic out for any unusual shapes. He saw a black shape speed by in his periphery vision, but he was ready this time.

"Get back here!" he shouted and followed after the dark shape.

Frenzy was sent on a winding chase through the tomato patches, the rows of strawberries, and he almost lost the trail at the cornstalks. He saw a slow moving shape on the other side of the stalks, and he grinned. 'Got you now.' he thought and quietly turned his pile drivers back into his servos before he jumped through the stalks onto the shape.

"What the slag!" he yelled as he felt the black shape seamlessly give way under his weight, letting him face-plant into the dirt. He grimaced in disgust as he spat out the dirt, and quickly got back to his pedes-only to stop cold.

As it turned out, the dark shape he'd been chasing was just a mass of swirling black mist. It ebbed and glowed unnaturally, and Frenzy was a bit stumped on how he was supposed to catch something he couldn't touch.

"Should have brought a vacuum." He said to himself, but paused when he noticed the mist started surrounding him. He tensed up, thoughts of Erase stirring unpleasant memories. What if this was like Erase? "Scrap." He muttered and put a digit to his processor as he jumped out of the dark ring. He felt like a coward asking for help, but even he knew that he wouldn't be much use if he got compromised. "Boss, found the card, but I'm gonna need some-"

Abruptly, the mist came out of nowhere and Frenzy tripped up as he tried to do a just as sudden U-turn. "Scrap." He cursed again, scowling as the mist washed over him. He waited for something bad to happen, like be turned into a plant or a human or-or-what the pit!

Frenzy stared in disbelief as he found himself still in the garden, but it was now day time out. He got back to his pedes, frowning as he wondered if this was the card's power. 'Looks like I found another one that's not really useful.' He thought and put his digit back to his helm. "Hey, boss, cancel that last request." He said, but got nothing in reply but static. "What…?" he trailed off, tensing as he heard nearby chatter.

He tensed as he spotted several humans plucking strawberries from their stalks, but none of them seemed to care as their eyes stared through him. Frenzy walked up to one of the humans, but they didn't look up, not even when he waved a servo in front of their face, but that just led to Frenzy getting an even bigger shock.

His servo was transparent-no, wait, scratch that, his entire body was transparent. "It…it killed me?" he questioned incredulously. Well, this flew right in the face of what Rad had said about the cards not being likely to kill any one. "Well isn't this just great." He scowled and marched off, but froze as the black mist appeared in front of him.

It slowly twisted and turned into a funnel before revealing the ghostly form of a young woman in a hooded robe with two long, pointed ears that the hood didn't cover. In her concealed hands she held a blue clock with two wings near the top and on her forehead was a small scaled, V-shaped tiara. She stared at Frenzy with an expectant look, but he had no idea what she was trying to do.

"You already killed me, what more do you want?!" he yelled angrily, but the card only smiled and nodded to something behind him. He suspiciously glanced over his shoulder, and he wondered what he was supposed to be looking at. There was nothing at the end of the garden except for a few apple trees, but as he felt his spark pulse he realized that wasn't exactly true.

A blond was picking apples with an older woman, but Rad looked younger than when he last saw him. The card floated along the ground towards him, and Frenzy found himself following after her. The blonde woman looked remarkably like Rad, but when he called her 'mom' he knew it wasn't Raven. Once he was done with his cursory glance of the woman, his gaze turned to Rad, whose features were softer, his voice a touch squeaky, and he was short.

Frenzy snorted; if he didn't know any better he'd swear he'd just gone back in time- The thought stopped cold, and he looked at the clock the card held with renewed suspicion. Even if Libra's use was now limited to bait, he could have used it to get some honest answers of this card. She didn't seem to be too inclined to speak with him.

An engine rang out, and next followed the familiar sound of transformation. Though Frenzy knew he wasn't able to be seen, he still tensed up when he spotted Hound and Bluestreak walking up what he assumed was the one in charge of this garden.

"Oh, wow." Rad said excitedly, his expression lighting up. Frenzy frowned at the squirming feeling inside when he saw that gaze was directed at the Autobots. "I can't believe the Autobots are here!" he looked up at the blonde beside him. "Mom, can I go over and talk to them? Please? I promise I'll be careful."

His mother looked nervously at the Autobots, but pursed her lips and gave a tight nod. "You'd better be careful, and don't bug them if it turns out they can't talk to you." She said sternly.

Rad grinned as he handed his basket to her. "Thanks, Mom!" he exclaimed and raced towards the two Autobots. Frenzy saw the woman gazing carefully after her son, and he reluctantly followed after Rad, the card trailing behind. He felt the strong urge to punch her serene face and demand just what she was pulling on him.

The closer Frenzy got, the more he could hear Hound talking to the gardener about the boring plant life with way more interest and excitement than it deserved. Bluestreak was mercifully silent as he gazed with wide optics around at the various vegetables and fruits. His blue optics glanced down at Rad, and he beamed at him, causing the blond to smile back nervously.

Rad glanced at Hound and the gardener and bit his lip. "It looks like you're busy." He said quietly.

Bluestreak shook his head, kneeling down to be more at an even level. "No, Hound wanted to talk to the person in charge; he really likes Earth and wanted to know things were grown and taken care of. I came along because I was curious too. It really is amazing seeing how you can tell what's right to pick and what's not, our energon isn't like that at all." He explained, and Rad grinned shyly at him.

"Energon's like your food, right?" he asked and Bluestreak nodded. "While your friend is learning about plants, can you tell me about how you make your fuel? It sounds interesting."

Bluestreak's optics lit up. "Really? You don't mind that I ramble? Everyone says I talk a lot and it's really hard to keep up, so I don't wanna have you get mad, usually even my friends can't stand me when I just go on and on and on-" he paused and rubbed the back of his neck apologetically. "I just did that, didn't I?"

"I don't mind; I can keep up." Rad said reassuringly. "So you were saying?" Bluestreak beamed and continued on with his babbling.

Frenzy watched the exchange with his fists slowly clenching and unclenching. He grounded his denta as he took in the annoying gunner's dopey expression and Rad's sincere expression as he listened patiently to the mech. There were awkward fumbles on both their parts, indicating that neither had ever met before.

And that was when it clicked. "You were there, weren't you?" he asked without taking his visor off the scene before him. "When I said I wanted to know what was up with these two?" he saw the card smile serenely, but Frenzy only felt an ugly surge of envy as he glared at Rad and Bluestreak. 'How could they have been so chummy with each other, even when they didn't know each other?' It infuriated him, knowing just how close they were going to be. Frenzy looked away from the scene in disgust. "Okay, you showed me; now get me out of here."

The card tilted her head, but closed her eyes and the clock began glowing; it's clock hands starting spinning, and the wings began flapping as the garden grew fuzzy and distorted. Frenzy felt like purging as he took in the trippy scene change, and he dimmed his optic band to wait out the ride. When it brightened, he almost jumped to find himself in the Ark surrounded by tables with Autobots drinking energon.

Frenzy glowered at the card. "What the frag did you just-" he stopped, faltering as he took in the fact his servo was still transparent. "Oh great, now what did you wanna show me?" he frowned as the card nodded over to the corner, and Frenzy followed the gaze until he landed on a lower table where the Minibots were all sitting, and sitting on the edge was Rad laughing and joking along with them.

Rad glanced over to where Bluestreak was sitting, but quickly looked away when the mech got up from his seat. Bumblebee looked between the two and tilted his helm. "Is there somewhere else you'd rather be?" he asked sympathetically.

Rad flushed and shook his head. "It's nothing, it's just…" he bit his lip. "It's kinda stupid, but ever since that one time Blue and I spoke, I've been too nervous to try it again. What could we possibly have to talk about? I doubt you bots go through puberty."

"Oh, so it that why you sound so funny? I thought that was just the way your voice was." Huffer said dourly.

Rad winced and Bumblebee sent the mech a reproachful looked before gazing reassuring down at Rad. "You just gotta find some common ground with Bluestreak. He's quite friendly."

"Oh," Frenzy said snidely, "these Autoscraps have no idea how friendly he is." He was of course ignored by all but the card, who didn't look interested in what he said one way or the other.

"Well, I just don't want you all to feel like I'm trading up or anything." Rad said nervously. "I've seen how the Twins treat you, and I know Bluestreak's friends with them, so, uh…" he trailed off, glancing uncomfortably to the side.

Bumblebee beamed, not noticing the dark looks the other Minibots exchanged. "It's not like we have a rule about who you can and can't be friends with. Our issues with the Twins does not extend to Bluestreak." He helped Rad to the floor and gave him an encouraging thumbs up. "I say go for it."

Rad smiled. "Thanks." He said and rushed towards the door.

* * *

"Hey, I'm sensing something." Rad stopped in his tracks. He was on his way to go back and wait for Cliffjumper at the school when the strange feeling washed over his body. It felt like the Time card's torturous slow control yet it was more of a serene detachment. Kero opened the zipper big enough to pop his head out yet disappear when Cliffjumper showed up.

"It feels weird. Almost like I'm not here yet I am." Rad's voice went quiet and soft as he tried to at last identify the card by himself. It was rather difficult to tell since it didn't feel threatening.

"I know you're trying to figure this out on your own Rad; judging by your weird expression of what you call "concentration". The card your feeling is called The Return. It's sibling is Time but instead of focusing mainly in the present timeline, it focuses on the past and will make you more of an observer than an interactor. You'll be more likely to have a pleasant conversation face-to-face with Return during your observations."

"I can sense it's not too far from the school," Rad closed his eyes and concentrated on the energy he was feeling, the image of the garden he used to go to pick fresh fruit and veggies. The blue line connecting the school to the garden but there was something peculiar about it. Something familiar yet not familiar at the same time.

"We better detour and go capture the card before Cliff shows up." With the conclusion in mind, Rad made his staff reappear and summoned Fly once again. Kero flew out of his backpack as they both headed up into the sky.

'Makes me wonder though, what else is with the Return?'

* * *

Frenzy crossed his arms, but was put a bit off kilter as the room passed around them, and he found them outside where Rad had caught up to Bluestreak. The cassette knew how this was all going to end, and he scowled at the card. "Okay, I get it, they're all lovey-dovey with each other in the present because they're friends or some slag. I don't need to see this; it makes me sick."

The card stared at him, her gaze unnerving steady and Frenzy looked away first-right at the scene of Rad looking up at Bluestreak shyly.

"So, um, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out some time? Like, maybe tomorrow? I could help you with Earth stuff if you wanted."

Bluestreak's optics flickered several times, and he smiled back. "I'd like that; I thought maybe you didn't want to hang out with me 'cause you thought I was too talkative, but it's great that you don't since I don't have many friends and you hang out with the Minibots who don't like the Twins that I am friends with and-" he paused, grinning sheepishly as Rad only gazed at him patiently. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"That's okay, I like your voice."

Frenzy made a gagging sound, and did a gesture he'd seen on the vids of television shows by putting a digit into his mouth and pretending to purge. He crossed his arms once more and scowled at them. "No wonder they're so sickening if this is how they started." He glanced at the card suspiciously. "And you're just gonna keep going, aren't you?"

The card nodded calmly, and once the clock in her arms began to glow. Frenzy gritted his denta, feeling nausea once again, but he waited through it. Ironically, he found their next stop was the med bay. Autobots looked scrapped and dented, some even hooked up to spark supports. Frenzy grinned as he realized this was the aftermath of a battle.

He laughed raucously. "Finally, a good memory!" he ignored the reproachful look the card sent him. After all, she was the one who actually decided to bring him here, and he was going to enjoy the miserable states of these scrap heaps. He grinned widely when he saw that on one of the berths was Bluestreak. His cannon had been torn off, and his faceplate looked recently repaired while the rest of his chassis still showed the signs someone had wailed on him. Frenzy felt a vicious glee in his spark as he thought of who had gotten lucky and was able to beat on this constant annoyance.

His euphoria abruptly faded when the doors to the med bay opened and Rad rushed in, Sideswipe following with a look around the room. He lifted Rad onto Bluestreak's berth while he walked over to Sunstreaker's. "Hey bro, how ya feeling?"

The yellow mech scowled down at his dente and scraped chassis. "Like those 'Cons are gonna pay for me having to spend the next three hours fixing all of this."

Sideswipe laughed. "Glad to see you're doing fine, Sunshine." He teased, but only grinned when Sunstreaker glared at him.

Bluestreak glanced at Rad, who settled beside his only marginally good shoulder. "What are you doing here?" he grimaced, and Frenzy took pleasure from the fact it likely hurt too talk. "Ratchet could be back any moment, and I don't want you to get in trouble."

Rad looked at him determinedly. "I wanted to see how you were doing, and that's what I'm gonna do." His features softened, and Frenzy noted just how much more he was looking like his present-self. How long had they been friends for now? "So, how do you feel? If you don't feel like giving an answer, how about a pain scale from one to ten?"

Bluestreak grimaced as he lifted up both servos; two digits slowly curling until only seven were up. He sighed as he set his servos back down, wincing as he brushed a servo against his hip. "That…took a lot out of me." He caught the look on Rad's face and smiled despite how painful it looked to do. "We still…beat them…though."

"I just can't stand seeing you like this. Even when you roughhouse with the Autobots it makes me cringe." Rad explained.

"That's because you're a squishy with squishy feelings." Sunstreaker said derisively, but scowled when Sideswipe cuffed him upside the helm.

"Don't mind him, Rad," the mech assured him, "Sunny's just had a rough day-his paint is terrible!"

Sunstreaker scowled at him. "Don't call me that!" he snarled, but winced as he clutched at his shoulder.

Rad looked back at Bluestreak, biting his lip and gently touched his own good shoulder. He smiled when the mech didn't react. "I hope you get better soon, being in a medical room is no fun at all."

"Got that…right." Bluestreak agreed weakly. "When I get out, we can…go and see a drive-in movie, how's that sound?"

Rad grinned, his eyes crinkling as tears pricked at the corners. "That sounds great."

Abruptly, Sideswipe looked up. "My Hatchet senses are tingling. We gotta go, Rad." He said and the blond nodded, waving at Bluestreak as the twin lifted him up and sprinted for the door.

Frenzy watched them leave, and looked up at Bluestreak blankly. His earlier derisive comment suddenly took on a different meaning. 'If this is what they're like as friends, how can I compete?' he thought, scowling as he shook his helm. He looked at the card, but gritted his denta once again when he saw the glowing clock.

* * *

"That's the Return?" They were facing a black swirling vortex in a strawberry patch behind a series of hedges. Rad was expecting a person not this! Kero's golden form was in Rad's peripheral, examining the portal.

"Rad, the Return can only be beaten by the Time card which you have," with a flourish, Rad whipped out Time, and observed the card. It wasn't anything really fancy except an old man and his hourglass.

"There's a price though," Kero continued, flying over to the vortex and examined it. There was definitely someone in there, "Return is not aggressive per say but there is a catch: she is powerful to the point you either can lose your magic or lose your physical strength. Either way, she's going to drain you of something if you decide to capture her." Rad was only half listening. Now he could tell what was with Return or more like _who!_

"Frenzy." He growled, tightening his fists over the staff, knuckles turning white. Why is he always around?! Couldn't that mech leave him alone? Anxiety shot through his body, heart beating out of his chest, cold sweat appearing on his body, and he was shaking.

"Cool it Rad. Knowning the Return, she will wear Frenzy out so then he can't hurt ya." Kero looked over at his friend. He wished Rad could understand that he was powerful enough to overcome Frenzy if he wanted to, "Don't sweat it, if you want to, call up the red car to come get you after you capture this card."

As nice as the idea was, Rad had to dismiss it. Bad enough that the Decepticon's know about the Clow Cards, Rad couldn't imagine the Autobot's reaction to this situation nonetheless believe magic existed. Sure Bluestreak believed him but the reaction from Prowl when the Wood and Rain were causing mischief in the Ark.

Bluestreak was busy at the Ark currently, and Rad didn't want to disturb him. Relaxing a bit, Rad had no choice except to save Frenzy by capturing the Return.

"I hope you're right about Frenzy being exhausted after I fix this Kero." The golden guardian kept his eye on Rad as the cardcaptor pulled Time back out.

"Time card!"

* * *

When the surroundings stopped spinning, Frenzy almost jumped again as he found himself standing beside Bluestreak's vehicle mode. He peered inside, and saw that Rad now looked like his present-self. He was leaning on the dashboard as he looked up at the drive-in movie screen.

"You can go get something to eat, I don't mind." Bluestreak said.

"What kinda friend would I be if I got your insides all dirty?" Rad asked.

Frenzy felt an odd inkling of what this was. In the present, if Rad and Bluestreak were together, and if they were still friends now, then likely at some point things changed. If this card was showing him how things were with them, then-

He turned and glared at the card. "I don't want to see this!" he pointed angrily at the human and Autoscrap. "You can't make me watch this, now take me back to the present!"

The card stared at him, her face impassive. Slowly, her form dissipated until she was once again nothing but a black mist. Frenzy smirked, but it fell when the mist disappeared and he was still in the drive-in. He shouted every curse he knew, and wished when he kicked Bluestreak's door, that he was solid so it'd hurt.

"Hey, Blue, I really like hanging out with you." Rad said softly.

"I really like hanging out with you too." Bluestreak replied. Frenzy shook his head and gritted his denta. This couldn't be happening; this was worse than thinking the card had killed him.

"And," Rad flushed, "I really like you."

Bluestreak chuckled. "After almost a year of being friends, I'd certainly hope you'd like me."

Rad smiled briefly, but bit his lip. "No, I mean I like you. As in, a more than friend's kind of way." He lowered his gaze, cheeks flushing deeply. "This was a really bad idea, wasn't it? I hope I didn't freak you out or anything."

"I thought I was supposed to be the chatterbox?" Bluestreak teased, but Rad's nervous expression had the joke falling flat. "Uh, too soon, huh? Well, I hope you'll understand when I say that this is kinda sudden. I do like you, but could you give me some time? This is a big step."

Rad bit his lip. "Yeah, I get it. I just hope we can still be friends. I don't want to lose you, not because of the Decepticons, and certainly not because of this."

Bluestreak's engine purred. "Let's just enjoy the rest of the evening."

Rad smiled as he leaned his head on the dashboard. "That's a really good idea."

Frenzy stared at them, optic band flickering, his jaw slackening incredulously. They…they didn't just get together? Obviously he knew that they are with each other, but it was a bit surprising that Bluestreak had just rejected Rad. Pit, it was a shock that Bluestreak had rejected Rad.

He continued to stare them, bitterly realizing why the card wanted him to see this. Look, this scene seemed to say, if things had gone differently you could have been with Rad after all. 'Yeah, if chatterbox had still rejected Glowy Fleshy later too.'

Frenzy didn't know if the card had revealed itself simply out of malice or to honesty answer him, but now that he got his answer, all his feelings about this were thrown out of whack. Doubt, longing, jealousy; all the things he tried to push back came through because of this little trip he'd taken. He wasn't exactly comfortable with trying to work through these feelings, but Pit if he wasn't going to try.

Next battle, he had a big blue and gray Autoscrap to take his frustrations out on.

"Okay, now I finally understand why you did this," Frenzy called, feeling rather foolish for trying to get the card back like this, but it wasn't like he had anyway to get it to appear this time, "send me back to the present."

There was no sound except for the remainder of this past scene, and Frenzy was starting to feel a bit edgy. 'Well scrap, how am I supposed to get back to the present now?'

The card gave a sad smile before the surroundings flickered on and off as static.

"Oh frag!" Frenzy thought as he looked around in a blind panic. Was this the end of him? Did this card tempt him into the past only to murder him? He spun back to the card with his denta bared only to come back into the exact vegetation he found the awakened woman. Instead there was the golden plushy and Rad. Said teen was huffing and puffing as he had the Return in his hand, looking as though he was going to pass out any second.

"Kero, I thought you said-"

"I know what I said. Oh no! I forgot! When Sakura was trapped by the Return, Li had to come in and rescue her. He was the only one affected. Sorry Rad!"

Rad gaze a tired glare at Kero before his body slid down a tree, laying in the trimmed grass. Technically he was ripe for the taking in Frenzy's mind yet something told him to not make a move, not yet. A buzz from Rad's pocket gained Frenzy's attention.

'Why do I fragging care?!' No answer was given as Frenzy walked towards the unconscious teen. Kero darted in front of Frenzy's visor.

"Stay away from Rad!" He had his body flared out in an attempt to discourage the Decepticon. A bulky black hand snatched Kero out of the air before tossing the little plushy, "Get out of my face!" Kero skidded against the grass, temporarily defeated as his wings had hit the ground at a bad angle.

Now not hindered by the plushy, Frenzy descended upon the teen, grabbing the Return. He could always take it for himself. The mission though was to make Rad trust him, convince him to join the Decepticon's, and make the teenager his. Balancing both pros and cons ('Would've been nice to actually bring that darn card with me!'), Frenzy rifled through Rad's bag, producing a pen and wrote on the card. He tucked the card back in the bag before grabbing Rad's cellphone.

Cliff: Rad I'm at the front of the school. Where are you?:

Cliff: 5 missed calls

Cliff: If you don't answer soon I'm going to call Prime.:

With quick haste, Frenzy texted back:

Rad: I'm at the garden that grows strawberries and veggies for the community. Don't know address.:

Cliff: On my way!:

Frenzy tucked the phone back into the teen's pocket. Knowing he needs to leave quickly, the punk gave a swift kiss to the teenager's forehead before he took off into the sky for the rest of the night.

* * *

Rad woke up, his body aching. The Return really did a number on him bad enough that Frenzy- The teenager wildly lurched forward, checking his surroundings for the card he recently captured. He didn't have enough strength to write his name on the card not to mention flee from Frenzy who was totally unaffected by Return.

"He put it in your backpack." Kero inquired, crawling up to the backpack. Rad picked up his friend, taking stock over his injuries. Nothing major, couple of bruises and scrapes.

"Why though?"

A shrug, "No idea but he grabbed your cellphone and put it back." That sent a disgusted shiver down Rad's spine. That 'Con touched him! After the incident on the Nemesis, that was the last thing Rad wanted was to be touched by that Decepticreep.

"Rad!" Cliffjumper transformed and ran up to his charge, worried for his young friend. Looking him over, Cliff was relieved that Rad was only tired and not in any danger.

"I got your text. I wish you told me you had left earlier so I wasn't sitting in an empty parking lot."

"Sorry. Just, can we go back to my place? I'm tired." The cardcaptor yawned before grabbing his gear. As he rose, a card fell out of his backpack.

"What's that?" Cliff asked, noticing the pink card. Panicked, Rad answered, "It's a trading card!" He looked over at the card. Cliffjumper transformed, offering his door open, waiting for Rad to put away the teddy bear and the card. Rad was stunned as his cheeks blushed a bit.

His name was on the card.

* * *

 **Just a forewarning: chapter 30 will take a long time to write since you know I suffer from everyday life problems and such but hey at least I got a general idea on where I'm going with this but I'll catch you guys on the flip side!**


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